MANDEVILLE, Manchester — St Catherine made losing starts to the defence of their Juici Patties/South Central Confederation Under-13 and Under-15 titles following identical 1-0 defeats to perennial rivals Clarendon at Brooks Park on Saturday.

St Catherine were in cruise control last season as they clinched the double in fine style and were expected to start their defence on a high despite losing a number of influential players.

They will, however, have to play catch-up if they are to keep alive their hopes of retaining the double as they now sit at the bottom of the table in both divisions.

Travis Grant’s 22nd-minute penalty was enough to give Clarendon victory and three points in U-13 action, which saw them joining St Elizabeth atop the standings after a 51st-minute Romeo Wright strike also gave the “bread basket” parish a 1-0 win over the host team, Manchester, in the curtain-raiser.

In the U-15 match-up, Xhane Reid’s angled right-footed grounder was enough to seal the double for Clarendon over St Catherine as they moved atop the table on three points.

Manchester and St Elizabeth are tied for second place after sharing the spoils in a drab 0-0 tie in the feature game.