PHC gained sweet revenge for Sunday's loss against North Village as they plundered the Red Devils for three second-half goals and a 3-1 victory at Devonshire Rec. field last night in the first round of the Dudley Eve Trophy competition.

Winston Trott, Kenny Mills and Sammy Swan took advantage of severe lapses by the Village defence to tally for the Zebras, who broke out of a two-game scoring slump.

Village had their chances too, but found PHC goalkeeper Ty Williams in vintage form with a solitary score by Michael Hansey the only blemish.

The win sets up a Boxing Day showdown with Somerset, who have beaten them twice already this season, in the next round.

A notable absentee on the night was PHC's skipper Mike Dill with his centre-half position occupied by Frank Ming, dropping back from midfield.

In a slow-moving first half neither side were able to assert their authority on the match and penalty kicks looked a logical conclusion.

Elliott Jennings brought out the first of several fine saves by Williams in the sixth minute when he darted down the left side and attempted a shot from an acute angle. Williams was caught wrong-footed but reacted in time to make a fingertip save.

Meanwhile, at the other end, Trott missed converting a diving header of a cross by Ming after 15 minutes with Village 'keeper Cymande Davis beaten on the play.

Jennings was denied what looked a sure goal when he sprung the Zebras' offside trap and unleashed a low left-footed drive from 30 yards only to have Williams go full length to his left and deny him yet again.

As the half neared Village seemed to be gaining the upper hand with the Jennings boys -- Elliott and Kevin -- prominent in most attacks and causing hasty clearances by the PHC defence.

On the other hand the Zebras were clearly struggling to find their rhythm with a reshuffled line-up.

However, whatever problems they had were sorted out at the interval as they came out blazing in the second half, rocking their opponents with two goals in the space of five minutes.

First in the 48th minute, Trott connected for a thunderous right-foot volley of from a poor clearance by the Red Devil defence. Davis was given no chance as the ball rocketed into goal.

Before they could recover from this blow Village found themselves further in arrears as Mills scored. This time he took advantage of a slip by last man Shawn Smith and easily rounded Davis leaving himself with the easy task of slotting into an empty net.

Williams smothered a drive from Paul Simmons in the 53rd minute before Hansey finally got one to elude the 'keeper and reduce the margin to a single goal.

But this was as close as they would get and six minutes from time Swan stepped up to place the final nail in the Village coffin. Again the defence was to blame as Hansey miskicked in his own penalty area allowing Swan to nip in between he and Davis for the final score.

PHC: T.Williams; D.Outerbridge, F.Ming, D.Douglas, R.Lewis; O.Steede, K.Mills (D.Rawlins 80 mins), S.Ming; S.Simons, S.Swan, W.Trott (C.Burgess, 83 mins).

North Village: C.Davis; K.Grant, S.Smith (W.Augustus, 58 mins), M.Hansey, K.Binns; S.Coddington, K.Jennings, C.Caisey; E.Jennings, P.Clarke, P.Simmons (M.Dill, 71 mins).

Referee: Rex Osborne.

Men of the match: Ty Williams (PHC); Elliott Jennings (North Village).

REVENGE FACTOR -- Sammy Swan, right, and PHC turned the tables on Village in last night's first round of the Dudley Eve Trophy.