PHC 0 Dandy Town 2

First-half tallies from Oneko Lowe and Jahnazae Swan swept Dandy Town to an impressive shutout win and league double over champions PHC Zebras at PHC Field yesterday.

The visitors were by far the better team on the day and had it not been for the woodwork, squandered chances and some timely saves by PHC goalkeeper Shaquille Trott would have come away with a wider margin of victory against their hosts who also suffered their first back-to-back losses of the season.

“I’m very pleased with the result,” Devarr Boyles, the Town coach, said after his team’s flawless display.

“For four games consecutively, we’ve made four changes and the team has always found a way to win, so that’s a testament to them and where we’ve come over the second half of the season and so my hat is off to them. Whoever has come in, has come in and stepped up to the job.”

Town have been among the most in-form teams during the second half of the season and are presently on a five-game winning streak.

“I think it’s a spirit about the team that allows them to be resilient,” Boyles added. “We are creating lots of chances and taking chances and have found ways to be a little bit more sturdy at the back where we are not conceding easily.

“We rode our luck once or twice. But certainly in the balance of chances created we certainly created more.”

Town’s impressive win came at a cost as midfielder Neil Smith took a blow to the head early in the first half and was replaced by Nizigh Spence.

PHC were also forced to make an unscheduled change after midfielder Keishon Bean, who has been named in Bermuda’s squad to play the Dominican Republic in a crucial Concacaf Nations League qualifier in the Caribbean on Sunday, injured his knee just before the break.

Town showed up to play and rocked their hosts back on the heels when Lowe made the early breakthrough from a set piece.

Angelo Simmons, the Town captain, gained possession from a short corner and shielded the ball before passing to Lowe who smashed home without breaking stride.

Town continued to dominate possession and beat PHC to every ball and came close to extending their lead when Simmons’s shot from outside of the box cannoned off the bar.

PHC gradually began to show glimpses of life and were denied by a superb reflex save from Town goalkeeper Jaiden Manders who tipped Marco Warren’s close-range effort over the bar.

However, the hosts were unable to contain a rampant Town side who continued to get behind their defence with ease and threatened to blow the lid completely off this physical contest played at high tempo.

Lowe squandered two clear-cut opportunities, Simmons was again denied by the woodwork while Daeshun Butterfield brought off a superb diving save from Trott.

PHC’s luck finally ran out when wing back Swan drilled in a low shot from inside the area to double the visitors lead.

The hosts were a better representation of the team that landed a record league title the previous weekend in the second half with Warren going close with a free-kick that crashed onto the bar.

However, the damage had already been done with Town putting up the shutters to protect their cleansheet the rest of the way.

SCORERS

Dandy Town

Lowe, 2

Swan, 34

TEAMS

PHC (4-5-1): S Trott - D Smith- Lightbourne (sub: J Hassell, 75 min), D Usher, M Lambe, Shakhai Trott - M Waldron, Z Lee (sub: J Iris, 46), K Bean (sub: R DeShields, 40), M Warren, K Matthie - C Robinson. Substitutes not used: J Eve, M Wilson, K Hypolite, J Sealey. Booked: Usher.

Dandy Town (4-5-1): J Manders - A Furbert, J Richardson-Martin, N Smith (sub: N Spence, 13), J Swan - S Darrell, D Butterfield (sub: K Lathan, 46 min), L Emery, K Steede, O Lowe (sub: I Blankendal, 90+) - A Simmons. Substitutes not used: T Woodley, J Johnson, E Swan, J Roser. Booked: Butterfield, Emery.

Referee: G Swainson