PHC 2 Devonshire Cougars 2

PHC surrendered the lead twice to draw their Dudley Eve group B opening match with Devonshire Cougars at Bernard Park on Tuesday night.

Arnezha Astwood opened the scoring for PHC in the seventh minute before Samario Valasse-Paul equalised two minutes before the break. Substitute D'Andre Wainwright restored the lead for Cecoy Robinson’s side on the hour mark, but veteran forward Domico Coddington rose from the bench to secure a point for Cougars.

Commenting on his first game in charge of PHC, Robinson felt that they could have taken the three points had they been sharp in front of goal.

“It was a mixed bag for me,” Robinson told The Royal Gazette.

“We saw glimpses of what we’re trying to do and accomplish. But there were also too many mistakes for me tonight.

“I don’t think a draw is a fair result. We probably missed more chances, they had chances at the end to actually win the game, so we could have taken the game away from them with the chances we had in both halves.”

PHC made a bright start when Astwood beat the offside trap when put through by Aaron Nelson and buried the ball into the net. Cougars goalkeeper Q'Shai Darrell made a brilliant stop in the sixteenth minute to keep Keishon Bean’s free kick out.

Valasse-Paul ensured that Cougars went to the break level when he connected with a cross from the left and managed to squeeze the ball into the net.

Wainwright, a half-time replacement for Eusebio King-Mills, restored PHC’s lead as he capitalised on an error by Darrell, whose attempt to clear the ball with his feet was unsuccessful, allowing the big forward to score.

Coddington made an impact six minutes after coming on when he started a move and finished it. The seasoned striker surged forward, sent the ball out to Jayori Fox, who was stopped, but the ball fell back to the 41-year to equalise.

Both teams had great chances to score right at the end. Chae Brangman forced Quinaceo Hunt into a great stop two minutes before full-time.

On the other end, Na'eem Griffith headed wide from an Astwood corner kick in the 90th minute.

TEAMS

PHC (4-2-3-1): Q Hunt 6 — D Smith Lightbourne 6, King-Mills 5 (sub: D Wainwright, 46, 6), N Griffith 6, D Usher 6 (sub: R Woodley-Smith, 78) — S Burrows 7 (sub: D Dowling, 63, 5), A Astwood 7 — K Abraham 7 (sub: K White, 81), A Nelson 6, C Eve 6 — K Bean 5 (sub: J Bather, 46, 5). Substitutes not used: J Ebbin, J Hassell

Devonshire Cougars (4-3-3); Q Darrell 6 — J Brimmer 6 (sub: C Albouy, 72), T Tucker 6, L Millett 6, J Thomas 6 (sub: J Wilson-Butterfield, 60, 5) — Z Simmons 7, M Thomas 6 (sub: A Daniels, 72), S Valasse-Paul 6 (sub: C Brangman, 46, 6) — M Mills 6 (sub: D Coddington, 60, 6), C Burns 6, J Fox 6. Substitutes not used: C Knight, N Carmichael. Booked: Darrell, Brimmer, Simmons

Referee: C Hayward.