PHC 2 North Village 3

Jonté Smith scored in the fifth minute of added time as North Village knocked out PHC in an entertaining preliminary round match in the Friendship Trophy last night.

With the match heading into extra time, Knory Scott made a darting run down the left flank before laying a pass off to Smith. The lanky striker kept his composure to execute a perfect side-footed shot into the bottom left corner beyond the outstretched arm of a diving Quinaceo Hunt in the PHC goal

Earlier, PHC started off fresh out of the blocks with captain Daren Usher overlapping down the right flank. He spotted Village goalkeeper Detre Bell off his line but his long-range effort sailed wide with Bell backtracking in no-man’s land.

Village were forced into an early substitution when centre half Terryn Fray went down with a knee injury and was replaced by Jalen Harvey. Scott then tested Hunt with a firm shot which the goalkeeper did well to cradle into his chest without trouble.

Near the half hour-mark, Enrique Russell brought out the best in Bell when forcing him to dive and push his piledriver around the post.

Play see-sawed from end to end before Harvey turned super-sub as he was at the back post to head in Scott’s corner to give Village the lead in the 33rd minute.

On the stroke of half time, Bell advanced to block Chance Eve’s goalbound shot with Russell placing the rebound over the top from close range.

Village started the second half with purpose. Jordan Outerbridge had a clear-cut chance to double Village’s lead when he beat the offside trap and headed for goal only to slice wide under pressure from the recovering defence. S

Seke Spence then did some good work down the right flank as he snaked his way through before his low cross found Outerbridge, whose volley was blocked by an alert Hunt to keep his team in the match.

PHC never gave in and found the equaliser against the run of play. A free kick from the right side was met by a glancing header from Eve. Village nearly scored from the resulting kick-off but Hunt did well to pull in Scott’s thunderbolt at the second attempt.

Village regained the lead when Amir Dill dribbled inside before laying off to Outerbridge, whose firm drive smashed off the upright before nestling in the opposite corner.

With one minute of regulation time to play, PHC’s Jaylon Bather ventured forward and rounded a defender before placing the ball in the left corner of Bell’s net to tie the score.

With the match heading for extra time, Village found the go-ahead goal deep into added time. Scott made a darting run down the left flank, holding off his marker before laying off to Smith to execute his clinical finish and steer North Village into the next round.

Scorers

PHC Zebras: C Eve 66, Bather 89

North Village: Harvey 33, Outerbridge 80, J Smith 90+5

Teams

PHC (4-2-3-1): Q Hunt 6 ― D Usher 6, J Bather 7, N Griffith 6, D Smith-Lightbourne 5 ― K Abraham 5 (sub: K Bean, 87min), A Nelson 5 (sub: D Lodge, 69 5) ― C Eve 6 (sub: R Woodley, 69 5), S Burrows 5 (sub: J Ebbin, 87), H Eve 5 (sub: A Burgess, 46 5) ― E Russell 6. Substitutes not used: J Hassell, K White. Booked: H Eve, Lodge, Ebbin.

North Village (4-2-3-1): D Bell 7 ― K Harrison 6, T Fray 5 (sub: J Harvey, 13 6), Q Outerbridge 5 (sub: K Knights, 46 5), C Caisey 6 ― T Williams 5, S Spence 6 ― J Outerbridge 7, A Dill 7, K Scott 7 ― J Smith 7. Substitutes not used: P Smith, J Hayward, K Cann, T Tucker, L Steede. Booked: C Dill Jr (coach).

Referee: S Maybury