Flanagan’s Onions 1

PHC Zebras 5

As one-sided as the scoreline suggests PHC Zebras swept aside Flanagan’s Onions with the same ease as with which one might swat a fly, and the demands the Onions players made of each other to “keep fighting” at 4-1 down had the hollow ring of a team that knows they are well beaten.

In fact, everything about Onions was hollow yesterday, from their porous defence to their complete lack of an attacking threat, and the only surprises in the result was that PHC took 25 minutes to break the deadlock, and then did not score more having done so.

Na’eem Griffith, the PHC defender, opened the floodgates with a turn and shot from close range after Stephen Gould, the Onions goalkeeper, had failed to handle a Cecoy Robinson shot from outside the area.

Thirty seconds later Jahnai Raynor added a second when Onions lost the ball from the restart and then got themselves in a tangle in defence.

Robert Richardson and Lonnie Bascome both missed good opportunities to extend their side’s lead before the break, and Flanagan’s were lucky to reach half-time only two goals behind.

The home side got back into the game very briefly when Griffith was harshly adjudged to have handled the ball in the penalty area, and Pete Robey stepped up to cut the deficit in half. It was as close as Onions ever got, and closer than they deserved to get.

As with the first half, the second was one-way traffic, and it was inevitable that the third, when it came would be down to a defensive mistake. Facing his own goal, and needing just to pass the ball back to Gould, Martel Laws only succeeded in tying himself in knots, missed the ball entirely, and Robinson nipped in, raced clear, and fired the ball past Gould.

Onions’ defending went from bad to worse and Robinson missed a sitter before the home side were the victims of another questionable penalty decision. Another defensive mix-up sent Robinson clear, he chipped the ball over Gould, but pushed himself wide and then appeared to fire his shot into the side netting as Martel Laws and Greg Muir closed in.

Muir was between Robinson and the goal, and Anthony Francis, the referee ruled that he had handled the ball, stopping it going in.

Muir was irate, and the fact that the defender was neither booked, nor sent off, for the offence further confused the issue. Robinson stepped up and calmly took the penalty to make it 4-1, and two minutes later Raynor added his second, and PHC’s fifth, when he waltzed past Phil Matthews and Martel Laws like they were not there. Which Flanagan’s were not yesterday.