KINGSTON, Jamaica — Kingston College head coach Jermaine Miller believes his team got exactly what it needed from Saturday’s Super Saturday football festival, after winning their games against William Knibb Memorial High and Cornwall College.

KC opened with a commanding 7-0 victory over William Knibb. Talisman Deshawn “Ruto” Byfield netted a hat-trick, with further goals from Adriel Fisher, Dandre Green, Ryland Campbell and Toussaint Richards — the younger brother of Dujuan “Whisper” Richards.

In their second game, KC came from behind to beat Cornwall College 2-1. Byfield scored both goals to finish with five goals from two games.

Miller said the matches provided valuable insight into KC’s strengths and weaknesses ahead of the schoolboy football season.

“I thought Super Saturday was really good for us. Both games were decent competition,” Miller said. “The day as a whole showed us some stuff that we needed to see in terms of what we are doing well and some of the things that we need to look in terms of fixing some problems.”

KC’s opener against William Knibb ended in a one-sided scoreline, but Miller felt the result did not reflect the competitiveness of the contest, particularly in the early stages.

“Despite winning 7-0, I thought it was much more competitive than the scoreline suggested. Especially the first 20 minutes, William Knibb made it difficult,” he said.

Once KC broke through, Miller said the game opened up as William Knibb struggled to maintain their intensity.

“After we got a couple goals, I thought they dropped their heads, and that gave us a little bit more space and time to create more chances, and we really capitalised on that,” he explained.

It was a different story in KC’s second game, where they were given a much sterner examination by Cornwall College.

“The second game, however, was much more difficult. I thought Cornwall played real good football. In the early stages, they dominated,” Miller said. “We couldn’t control the game as we would have wanted, and it showed us a lot of stuff that we need to work on.”

Despite the contrasting nature of the two contests, Miller was encouraged by the overall value of the day and believes KC can use the experience to sharpen its preparations.

“For me, it was a really good day overall, and we’re just here looking forward to the start of the season,” he said.

The KC coach now expects his players to use the lessons from Super Saturday to fine-tune their game before the competitive campaign gets underway.

— Howard Walker