PHC 2

Hamilton Parish 1

PHC Zebras came from behind to avenge a recent loss to Hamilton Parish and advance in the Friendship Trophy at Goose Gosling Field tonight.

Cecoy Robinson, the Zebras captain, scored a brace either side of the interval to cancel out a wonder strike from Ryan Tyrell.

Compounding Parish’s woes was the late sending off of defender Calin Maybury for foul and abusive language towards referee Anthony Francis.

Francis was subjected to some harsh criticism from both benches for some of the calls he made.

Both teams probed from the kick off but the game did not come alive until Parish striker Angelo Cannonier stung the palms of PHC goalkeeper Jay Smith with a ferocious volley after nipping in behind the defence.

Cannonier’s close call was an ominous sign of things to come but PHC did not heed the warning and found themselves trailing to an absolute stunner from Tyrell.

With the Zebras defence back-pedalling, and Smith standing slightly off his line, the Parish midfielder smashed the ball into the roof of the net from 20 yards out.

Parish raised their tempo up a notch or two after taking the lead but were stopped dead in their tracks when Robinson side-footed Lonnie Bascome’s cross inside the back post against the run of play to draw the teams level.

Parish were fortunate not to have fallen behind after allowing their opponents far too much time and space on the ball.

Bascome had a shot blocked at the far post shortly after Parish survived a goalmouth scramble while Robinson had a well-aimed free kick deflected away from goal.

Na’eem Griffith, the PHC defender, had a powerful shot from outside of the box saved by the alert Burgess.

By the time the second half started PHC were firmly in control and they nearly surged ahead when Marquel Waldron, the midfielder, forced Burgess to dive low to his left to save a free kick.

Bascome also went close when he rolled the inches wide of the far post after Burgess raced off his line to narrow the angle.

But Zebras would not be denied moments later as Robinson grabbed his and his team’s second goal with a rasping volley from an angle that left Burgess grasping at thin air.

Tempers flared in the closing minutes with both teams guilty of making reckless tackles, some of which went unpunished by the referee.

PHC suffered a setback when livewire Bascome limped off hurt.

The game descended into controversy after Parish’s appeal for a penalty after substitute Macquille Walker was floored in the area fell on deaf ears.

Parish were fortunate not to have fallen further behind when Waldron struck the post with a curling effort from an angle.

The visiting team were reduced to ten men in stoppage time when Maybury received a straight red for his unsportsmanlike behaviour.

But by then the damage had already been done.