PHC Zebras 2

Hamilton Parish 2

Relegation-threatened Hamilton Parish came from two goals down to salvage a point against PHC Zebras at PHC Field yesterday.

The home side appeared to be cruising towards victory after Casey Castle and Cecoy Robinson earned them a two-goal cushion at the half.

However, the visiting side came alive in the second half and drew level with two goals from Donovan Thompson and Anthony Smith.

The game opened up in the closing stages of the thrilling contest with both teams carving out chances to win.

PHC were by far the better team in the first half.

The home side took early control and their relentless onslaught eventually took its toll on Parish when Castle broke the deadlock in the 33rd minute. The winger reacted first to a loose ball inside the penalty box and beat Nigel Burgess, the Parish goalkeeper, with a low drive that took a deflection off a defender.

Not long after Castle went from scorer to provider when he fed a pass to Robinson who drilled a low shot inside of Burgess’s far post.

Phillip Burgess, the Parish coach, read his players the riot act during the half-time interval and it seemed to do the trick as they were more organised during the second half which they dominated.

PHC eventually caved in with Parish’s first real shot on target in the 55th minute, Thompson sweeping in the rebound from Isaiah Creighton’s 30-yard effort that crashed against the bar.

The home side suffered another setback when Troy Hall, the PHC goalkeeper, injured himself in a collision with Creighton during another promising raid that ended with the visiting side earning a corner.

Daniel Johnson replaced Hall and his first touch of the ball was digging it out of the net after Smith rose to powerfully head home Chris Caisey’s ensuing corner in the 66th minute.

Both sides had chances to win, and Johnson had to be at his best to deny Thompson, and then made a fingertip save from Keoki Cann’s header from another Caisey cross.

TEAMS

Scorers

PHC Zebras (Castle 33, Robinson 41)

Hamilton Parish (Thompson 55, Smith 66)

PHC Zebras: (4-3-3): T Hall (sub: D Johnson, 66min) — J Ball, N Griffith, K Richards, D Usher — M Waldron, C Robinson, J Raynor (sub: E Russell, 80) — C Castle (sub: M Burchall, 70), J Warren-Smith, S Smith. Substitutes not used: M Lambe, O Tucker, K Bean, D Smith-Lightbourne.

Hamilton Parish (4-4-2): N Burgess — J Hunter-Tucker, A Smith, K Cann, P Richardson — M Clamens (sub: D Minks, 75), E Signor, C Caisey, I Creighton — Z Smith-Tucker, D Thompson. Substitutes not used: M Ingham, C Wade, M Walker, K Fox. Booked: D Minks.

Referee: E Holmes.