North Village 1

PHC Zebras 4

PHC moved confidently into a second straight Dudley Eve final last night at Goose Gosling Field after stopping a North Village team that had been scoring goals for fun so far this season.

The Rams, with 20 goals in just four games, struggled to penetrate a tough PHC defence as the Zebras stunned them with four well-taken goals at the other end.

PHC are now just one win away from retaining the cup they won last season, with new coach Scott Morton also on the verge of winning his first trophy with the club.

“First and foremost we always talk about the process and one of the critical parts is defensively structured,” Morton said afterwards.

“I think the players did an excellent job with that tonight to shut down a lot of their creative plays and to make it difficult for them. That then allowed us to get into more attacking positions.”

PHC blew the game wide open with two goals in less than two minutes around the half-hour mark to take a comfortable lead into half-time.

And when Village pulled one back in the 79th minute, PHC struck twice more in quick succession to put the match out of Village’s reach.

“It was two well-taken goals, our job as coaches is to put the players in goalscoring and they have to be the creative one to be able to execute it,” said Morton, who was careful not to get carried away with his side’s good start to the season.

“One day at a time, we won’t want to make too much of it because I don’t allow wins to dictate how we play or what success is for us. It’s about people handling their responsibilities and collectively doing their jobs to nullify the opponents.

“We’re naturally an attacking team, but defensively we have to get a bit more disciplined and it’s coming.”

The match started 28 minutes late after the officials decided that the stanchion bolted to the inside of one of the uprights at the club end could possibly prevent a goal, or even cause an injury, so it was removed as the net was tied up.

The best chance in the match was created in the nineteenth minute from a Village free kick on the right edge of the box. Kieshen Smith’s effort hit the base of the near post and then rolled across the face of the goal before striking the far post.

Quinaceo Hunt, the PHC goalkeeper, injured himself in the scramble to keep the ball out, forcing another delay while he received treatment.

The sometimes tense and ill-tempered first half finally produced two quick goals when Kadeem Abraham and Keishon Bean scored in the 31st and 32nd minutes to give PHC a deserved 2-0 lead. Abraham followed up after the ball was knocked around inside the Village penalty area, sidefooting past Tahj Bell from 15 yards.

A second sucker punch a minute later had Village wobbling, this time a brilliant pass from Tre Ming in midfield put Bean clear of the defence, and he chipped the ball over the six-foot-plus Bell and under the bar for a good finish.

A third goal almost came minutes later when Marco Warren’s effort hit the base of the post after a ball into the box from a free kick.

A half-time talk from coach Devarr Boyles got Village playing better in the second half, with captain Keishen Bean immediately going close with a shot from 25 yards. Cecoy Robinson, the PHC captain, wasted a good chance when he pushed forward from midfield to collect a pass behind the defence by Warren.

Village’s new confident was rewarded when substitute Pierre Smith scored from a rebound in the 79th minute after the ball was deflected onto the crossbar.

However, the joy was short-lived as PHC struck twice within five minutes to send Village crashing to their first loss. Warren tapped home the third when he followed up on a rebound after the ball came back off the far post.

Rakeem DeShields closed out the scoring with the fourth four minutes later after a pass from Tre Ming to the far post left DeShields with the simple task of scoring into the bottom corner to secure PHC’s spot in the November 11 final at Devonshire Recreation Club.

TEAMS

Scorers

North Village (P Smith 79)

PHC Zebras (Abraham 32, Bean 34, Warren 80, DeShields 84)

North Village (4-4-2): T Bell — K Knights (sub: K Dill 66min), A Furbert, J Harvey, D Tankard — P Parsons, J Davis, D Daniels (sub: T Watson 60), N Smith (sub: P Smith 69) — Kieshen Bean, S Hollis. Substitutes not used: E Zuill, D Dillas, M Saunders. Booked: Harvey.

PHC Zebras (4-3-3): Q Hunt — D Usher, N Griffith, M Lambe, J Ball — C Robinson, T Ming, M Warren — R DeShields (sub: D Joell 84), K Abraham (sub: J Warren-Smith 84), K Bean (sub: K Griffith 75). Substitutes not used: S Trott, D Smith-Lightbourne. Booked: Lambe, Usher, DeShields.

Referee: A Bailey.