Scott Morton, the PHC Zebras coach, believes the mutual trust he shares with his players is the key to their success this season.

Second-half goals from Marco Warren and Darren Usher got the job done for PHC against a North Village team who never really showed up for the Friendship Trophy final at Wellington Oval yesterday.

Warren broke the deadlock near the hour mark with a sublime finish before Usher slotted in Tre Ming’s rebound off the crossbar to secure PHC, unbeaten in all competitions this season, a record-tying eleventh Friendship Trophy title. The Zebras’ first Friendship Trophy victory in nearly a decade moved them level with Village and Somerset Trojans for the most wins in the competition.

Scott Morton, the PHC coach, said: “This win is overwhelming because the players have put in so much work and have so much belief in themselves, and I can see the fight in them. They trust me, I trust them, and it’s nothing but cohesion throughout the whole team.”

PHC avenged a 7-3 defeat by Village the last time they met in the Friendship Trophy final in the 2007-08 season. Asked whether revenge was a motivating factor for his players, Morton said: “That was not a factor at all.

“For us it’s one match at a time, so after this match we forget about it and focus on our next match.”

The scoreline flattered Village because PHC squandered several gilt-edged chances.

“We should have scored more goals but then again you can’t talk about what didn’t go in,” Morton said.

“You can only talk about what did and our objective is always to create multiple opportunities, so we don’t leave it to chance.”

Warren missed two glorious opportunities in the first half but made amends by scoring after the break with a brilliant solo effort.

“It was definitely one of my better goals because in the first half I missed one or two that I should have scored,” Warren said.

“Obviously, mentally that takes a toll on you but I’m happy to be able to push through in the second half and just glad they didn’t score.”

The only downside to PHC’s afternoon was the early loss of defender Kadeem Abraham because of a knee injury.

“Kadeem has a slight knee injury and is now doubtful,” Morton said. “I’m not sure how bad it is, but we definitely have to get him looked at.”

Devarr Boyles, the Village coach, admitted they were not up to par on the day.

“We started well but then as the game progressed we didn’t play enough football and lost our way,” Boyles said.

“What starts North Village is playing football but we never really got it going, particularly in the second half.

“That killed us because after that we were always chasing and not playing. We didn’t create anything of real substance, have numbers in the box or penetration, so that’s why we were not successful.”

Report, page 31