PHC 2

Dandy Town 0

Dandy Town were denied a fourth appearance in the Dudley Eve final in five years yesterday when two goals early in the second half by PHC took the sting out of the Hornets at Lord’s.

Chasing a third straight victory in the competition, Town struggled against a PHC side determined to reach their first final in five years and avenge their recent 4-0 thrashing to the Hornets in the league.

Yesterday’s loss was the first time this season Town have failed to score as, after a fast-paced first half, PHC struck two killer blows early in the second to stun the defending champions.

Damon Ming, Town’s veteran midfielder, was booked by Anthony Francis, the referee, for going down too easily inside the box in the 43rd minute after a challenge from Kenji Griffith.

It was from the same corner of the penalty box two minutes into the second half that PHC broke the deadlock with a piece of good fortune.

Shakir Smith blocked K’wonde Lathan’s attempted clearance after a Cecoy Robinson pass was intercepted, and the ball dropped under the crossbar as Mikkail Crockwell, the Town goalkeeper, tried in vain to tip it over the top.

The goal shocked the champions and delighted Smith, who was heard to say: “I needed that, I haven’t been having any luck”.

So much for luck running with the champions, who fell even further behind in the 58th minute when a good piece of finishing doubled the PHC lead.

Robinson, the PHC captain, played a one-two with Marquel Waldron and was put clear of the defence by the return pass, keeping his composure before slotting the ball inside the far post.

That second goal gave Town another jolt as they quickly brought on Dominique Lambert for Quadir Maynard in a bid to boost their attack. Town switched to two men down the middle, with Angelo Simmons, the captain, moving from the flanks.

Jomar Wilkinson, the Town coach, tried to keep his players in the game mentally, telling them: “Don’t quit on me, one goal can change things.”

And while Town kept battling in pursuit of a goal, PHC continued to look dangerous on the break as they went in search of a third goal as Robinson’s pace caused their defence some problems.

There was frustration for Town in the end with Seion Darrell, the midfielder, sent off two minutes into injury time for a second booking.

“It’s especially pleasing to me to get a shutout, the boys put it all out there on the field and worked until the final whistle, giving everything they had,” Mark Wade, the PHC coach, said.

“That’s what we asked for, it’s good to see it in the cup games but I want to see it in the league games.

“This is what we expect from Dandy Town, they keep working and playing as a unit, which we knew they would. We just needed to improve on how we played against them in the last game, we were fortunate with the first goal but you have to know how to ride that luck.

“We have to work out how to close games out comfortably instead of it looking as nervy as it did sometimes.”

PHC haven’t been in the final of this competition under the traditional Martonmere Cup format since 2007-08 when they beat Devonshire Cougars 5-3 on penalties.

“We’re looking forward to a trip in the final, to come up against some of our home-grown talent in Kyle [Lightbourne] and Antwan [Russell] and even Jaylon Bather, so it should be interesting,” said Wade of the November 11 contest at Wellington Oval.

Jomar Wilkinson, the Town coach, accepted PHC were the better team on the day.

“I thought PHC did a good job on us,” he said. “We needed to play more as a team and trust each other more. A few people dropped their heads and I thought our response wasn’t what it normally is.

“We’ll discuss that and figure out some things going forward, but we’ll definitely get back on the horse and correct some of the mistakes we made today and push on. We have to show our character, the quality team that we are.”

• In a rearranged First Division match on Saturday, St David’s beat Ireland Island Rangers 1-0 at Malabar Field to move into a tie for first place. Shea Pitcher scored the game’s only goal in the closing minutes.