Dandy Town 2 PHC Zebras 0

PHC Zebras missed the chance to open a three-point gap at the top of the Premier Division when late second-half goals gave Dandy Town a deserved 2-0 win at Goose Gosling Field last night.

PHC came into the make-up match looking for their seventh win in eight but suffered their first league loss of the season.

Town picked up their first win since September 22, bouncing back from a 6-0 thrashing at the hands of league leaders X-Roads in their previous match.

“We needed that, we’ve been struggling to score, struggling to defend,” Devarr Boyles, the Town coach, said. “But it’s just one game. I always sleep well but this certainly helps.”

Zebras went close in the fourteenth and sixteenth minutes when defender Na’eem Griffith had a far post header from a corner turned away for a corner.

Tre Ming then tested goalkeeper Jaiden Manders with a free kick from 35 yards, but the Town No 1 was equal to the task, tipping the effort over the crossbar.

Town had their best chance of the half just before the break when forward Angelo Simmons had a shot from an angle blocked at the near post by goalkeeper Shaquille Trott after the PHC defence allowed the ball to bounce inside the area.

Manders made another important save midway through the second half when he blocked Cecoy Robinson’s shot at the far post.

Then an error from Rakeem DeShields saw Kwame Steede pounce and square to substitute Jahtino Richardson-Martin who hit his left-footed shot wide of an open goal.

Captain Simmons then put a free kick just over the bar as Town continued to threaten. Town’s good spell paid off when a long ball by Michael Parsons saw full back K’Wonde Lathan hit a first-time volley, despite a challenge from Daren Usher, which beat Trott at the near post.

Another well-taken goal by Town minutes later secured the points when Steede followed up on a rebound near the edge of the box and curled a left-footed shot that hit the top of the far upright before going in.

The win lifts Town from ninth to fourth in the table while PHC stay level on 19 points with X-Roads who remain in first place on goal difference.

SCORERS

Dandy Town

Lathan 78, Steede 87

TEAMS

Dandy Town (4-4-2): J Manders — E Blankendal, T Manders, K Wade, K Lathan (sub: O Wilson, 83min) — L Emery, D Ming (sub: J Darrell, 62), S Darrell (sub: J Richardson-Martin, 62), M Parsons — A Simmons, K Steede. Substitutes not used: A Mohamed, I Blankendal, T Gibbons, N Smith. Booked: Emery.

PHC: S Trott — D Usher, M Lambe, R DeShields, D Smith-Lightbourne — Z Ming-Wilson, N Griffith (sub: K Matthie, 46), T Ming — J Iris (sub: J Sealey, 85), C Robinson, K Hypolite (sub: Shakai Trott, 85). Substitutes not used: T Place, Z Lee.

Referee: A Francis.