‘Whisper’ silences Mona as KC decide semi-final matchups
Published:Sunday | November 13, 2022 | 12:13 AMDaniel Wheeler - Staff Reporter
UNTIL YESTERDAY,the Craig Butler-led Mona High could not be stopped.
It took a member of his own Phoenix Academy, Kingston College’s Dujuan Richards, to finally end their winning run in the ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup.
In a game that could have been a championship final preview, Manning Cup holders Kingston College (KC) rallied to beat M0na 4-2 in their final quarter-final group game at Stadium East.
Richards, the man known as ‘Whisper’, silenced Mona from the penalty spot twice in the 13th and 33rd minutes and completed his hat-trick in the 87th minute. Richards’ third goal came after Damoi Whitfield and Zhaine Pinnock had dragged Mona back into the contest with second-half strikes in the 48th and 55th minutes. Nashordo Gibbs sealed the points in the 91st minute as the reigning champions finished the round top of their quarter-final group.
While both teams had already sealed a berth in the semi-finals, the pace of the game proved there was more up for grabs than just seeding for the next round.
Richard’s performance was the answer to the charge made by head coach Raymond Watson that morning to show why he is considered the most dangerous player in the competition.
“I told him that- if he didn’t score today- your (past performances in the) Manning Cup doesn’t matter. No one will judge you for 20 goals early in the season,” Watson said.
“They will judge you now. They will judge you based on today’s (yesterday’s) performance. This is where it counts- so get out there and do the job.”
The near misses and thrills were nearly too much for Butler, who had to be attended to by medical personnel at half-time but went right back to the bench in the second half, marshalling instructions from the sidelines. As much as they planned and tried to shut down Richards, Butler said they could not get the better of him in the end.
“We were used to playing a system and what we did was we compensated for Richards and put one of our players to mark him instead of playing what we know, our system. We immediately went back to our system (in the second half) and got back the goals but, as fate would have it, against the run of play, my boy scored on me,” Butler said.
The irony was not lost on him but Butler said that he rather it be him than anyone else that ended their unbeaten run in the competition.
“Whisper is a supertalented player, built by Phoenix. We are proud of him. And, if anybody should score, better him than anybody else,” Butler said.
With Mona’s frenetic pace, which put KC under pressure in that second half, Watson said that it played into their hands to get them on the counter.
“Tactically is where we won the game because we knew the Mona team would come at us and we decided to soak up this relentless pressure. We planned to hit them on the counter. They play a kind of game that is relentless pressure, relentless attack. We decided that, if you are going to give us space in behind, we are going to exploit that space,” Watson said
The result means Kingston College will face St Andrew Technical High School in the semi-finals while Mona will face Jamaica College.
In the day’s other game, St George’s College defeated Charlie Smith 4-1.