Mount Pleasant’s head coach Theodore Whitmore said it was difficult to motivate his players in their 0-1 loss to Defence Force of Trinidad in their CONCACAF Caribbean Cup second leg at the National Stadium on Wednesday after entering the game with a huge advantage.

Mount Pleasant had won the first leg 5-1, and basically that sealed their spot in the final, winning the tie 5-2 on aggregate.

“My disappointment was with how we started the game, and we fell behind. But after a 5-1 cushion from the first game, it’s kinda hard to motivate the players,” Whitmore revealed.

“We lost the game, but it wasn’t the ideal preparation coming into the game. The preparation, coming in just a few days to get the team together, but as I said before, we met our objectives, and we look forward to the finals,” he added.

“It wasn’t a game that we wanted to lose, but preparing for the final will give us much more time,” Whitmore explained.

“We looked at the Defence Force team, from the loss to us, they played two more games coming in, so they were much sharper than us. But we met our objective and that’s what matters,” the former Reggae Boyz player and head coach noted.

Mount Pleasant await the winner of the semi-final between Ciboa FC and O&M FC, both clubs from the Dominican Republic. The first leg ended 1-1.

Mount Pleasant is looking to continue the streak of Jamaican teams in the Caribbean Cup. Cavalier FC is the reigning champion and also finished as runners-up in 2023, the tournament’s inaugural edition.