Bean gives 10-man Village flying start
North Village 1 PHC O
Ten-man North Village held on for victory against PHC thanks to a sublime first-half finish by skipper Ralph Bean in last night's Dudley Eve curtain raiser.
Village suffered a major blow when play-maker Jemeiko Jennings was dismissed in the 13th minute at Devonshire Rec. for using foul and abusive language towards the referee.
Yet the sending-off seemed to rally the Rams who scored on the stroke of half-time when Bean latched onto a threaded through ball, slipping past his marker, before flicking the ball over the on-rushing keeper with the outside of his boot.
The second-half saw PHC launch wave after wave of attack but they never really looked like breaking Village's resolve. The Rams almost doubled their lead with Keishan Bean's delicate chip clipping Jay Smith's crossbar. PHC's Cecoy Robinson saw an effort go agonisingly wide and also had a shot cleared off the line late on, as Zebras slipped to their second straight defeat.
Village's acting coach Stephen Coddington said his side showed plenty of character to graft out a victory despite their numerical disadvantage.
"We had to adjust after the sending-off and showed a lot of character to play with a man down for most of the match and win," he said. "I thought we were resolute and strong in defence and should have put away a few other chances.
"We had to drop deeper as we were playing with a man down and although PHC put us under some pressure in the second half I never felt as though it was pressure we couldn't handle.
"It's always important to win your first game in the Dudley Eve and we are potentially just one game away from the final now." Earlier in the evening Southampton Rangers beat Somerset Eagles 3-2 in a thrilling First Division Dudley Eve encounter. Rangers took the lead through Khalil Symonds, but Eagles drew level with a Darren Dowling penalty.
In the first minute of the second half Symonds doubled his tally, but Eagles drew level again via a Dowling penalty. In the 84th minute Travis Wilkinson fired home to give Rangers victory.
