Hamilton Parish 0 PHC 1

Shakir Smith’s late winner sent PHC Zebras galloping to the top of group A after an evenly fought Dudley Eve Trophy match at St John’s Field yesterday.

The Zebras striker was handed the decisive goal on a platter after Nigel Burgess, the Parish goalkeeper, made a costly error in the 74th minute.

The scoreline flattered as PHC carved out enough chances to come away with a wider margin of victory, with Smith and Cecoy Robinson, the PHC captain, squandering the lion’s share of them.

In the end, however, Smith’s goal proved to be enough with the victory enhancing PHC’s chances of advancing to the knockout stage of a competition honouring the legacy of the father of former club coach, Alfie Eve.

“It was very important for us to get this win today,” Robinson, the PHC captain, said.

“We had a couple of chances I thought we could have put away that would have changed the complexion of the game.

“But in the end you are not always going to win games like that so you have to work hard, and that’s what we did today.

“We have a lot of work to do but it is a work in progress. I thought we played good in spurts so it is coming.

“We have a couple of youngsters that we are bleeding into the team and so it is going to take them some time to get accustomed to the speed of the game. So it was very good to get the victory and also to get them some minutes under their belt.”

A draw in their final group round-robin match against Somerset Trojans would be enough to put PHC into the semi-finals.

PHC dictated the tempo from the opening kick off and created several chances to take a lead into the break.

Burgess was forced to race off his line to gather the ball off of the feet of Smith after he had been played through by a defence-splitting pass from midfield.

Smith threatened again when he created some space for himself just outside of the penalty box and unleashed a vicious drive that flew just over the bar.

Parish defended for long spells but nearly took the lead against the run of play when Hall was forced to punch away a dangerous cross under pressure and then make a diving save to repel Romone Smith’s swerving volley through a phalanx of legs.

Smith went agonisingly close for PHC just moments before half-time when he got behind the Parish defence but rolled his effort inches wide of Burgess’s far post.

PHC continued to impose their will upon Parish after the break only to be denied by poor finishing, some fine saves by Burgess and solid defending by Parish newcomer Ernest Signor.

Burgess was called into action to make a one handed save to deny former team-mate Casey Castle who has returned to PHC.

Smith then outpaced the Parish defence but with only Burgess to contend with blasted over.

Parish nearly grabbed a surprise lead when a long ball in the box picked out Jamie Smith, the striker. But with two defenders on his back and Hall racing towards him to narrow the angle, Smith hesitated to unleash and PHC were able to clear their lines.

From the ensuing corner kick Patrick Richardson, the Parish midfielder, placed a free header wide of the far post.

The goal that PHC’s dominance deserved finally arrived with a little help from Burgess who fumbled Na’eem Griffith’s free-kick, leaving Smith with the simple task of slotting into an empty net.

Rather than park the bus and protect their slim advantage, PHC pressed for more goals and went close on several occasions down the final stretch.

Robinson’s inswinging corner kick struck the bottom of the near post before the PHC captain had a shot saved by Burgess.

Smith then played Robinson through but the latter blasted over from a tight angle. Parish were forced to play the final few minutes with ten men after Romone Smith limped off hurt with his team’s quota of substitutes already used up.

PHC threatened again right on the final whistle. But Burgess was equal to the task, pulling off a brilliant save to deny Robinson.