Hamilton Parish 2 PHC Zebras 5

PHC showcased their attacking talent to full effect in a goal-laden battle at Wellington Oval on Saturday.

Zebras should have opened the scoring inside five minutes when Diondre Dowling found Kadeem Abraham in space just outside the penalty area, but he fired his effort wide and Parish made them pay moments later.

A defensive mistake from the hesitant Michael Lambe allowed Macquille Walker to steal the ball and feed Shane Hollis, who chipped his effort over goalkeeper Coleridge Fubler into the empty net.

PHC recovered quickly and turned the game around within a frantic ten minutes midway through the first half. First, they equalised when Dowling found Abraham in space on the left flank and he clipped a beautiful ball for T’Syi Showers to sidefoot past Parish goalkeeper Julian Roser.

Moments later, striker Keishon Bean and captain Marco Warren combined beautifully, before the attacking midfielder fired a low effort into the near post. They would then double their lead from a period of dominance, during which Showers drove a corner from the right across the six-yard box for Jaylon Bather to fire back across goal off the post and in.

Neither side look composed in defence in the middle period of the first half, and this continued when Walker turned past Dowling and picked out Hollis. The attacker was able to drive past Darren Usher, who positioned himself too square and strike the ball into the near post past Fubler.

Just before half-time, Zebras restored their two-goal advantage from a major goalkeeping mistake. Dowling drove through midfield into a dangerous area just outside the opposition penalty area. Warren struck the resulting free-kick through a crowd of defenders but Roser failed to gather, losing his grip and allowing Shavon Nisbett to sneak in and tap the ball into the empty net.

The tempo and energetic nature of the first half took its toll on the both sides with the second period played largely in midfield.

In the opening minutes, Parish began to pass the ball around confidently with Stephen McKittrick recovering from his early yellow card to pull the strings. He was involved in their best opportunity of the half when he played in Kion Knights on the left flank before the winger was fouled by Usher right on the edge of the penalty area.

After a momentary pause, referee Anthony Francis gave a free-kick despite Parish’ appeal for a penalty. Jordan Outerbridge fired the resulting set-piece towards goal but Fubler pushed it straight into the path of Quinn Outerbridge. The centre-back drove the rebound low toward the right-bottom corner, but again Fubler was there to tip it around the post.

Just after the hour, Zebras created a clear opportunity of their own. Warren turned away from Jordan Outerbridge in midfield and found Bean, who laid off for Nisbett to strike his effort just wide of the near post. Thereafter, the visitors allowed Parish to push forward more frequently, but remained defensively resolute when attackers Walker and Hollis picked up dangerous positions. The midfield battle was evenly poised at this point, but Parish showed slightly more urgency to push into the final third. Once they got into attacking areas, Zebras kept good shape to nullify the majority of their attempts to come back into the match.

Zebras would conclude the match as a contest two minutes from time when substitute Shakhai Trott cut back for Jalun Hassell to fire into the near post and extend their advantage to three goals.

PHC head coach Winston Trott was pleased with the way his team adapted to the heavy conditions.

“The field was heavy on a hot day,” Trott said. “The team did their jobs, but we need to cut out the mistakes.They [Parish] are a good side,” he said. “We had to play to our game plan, and the players did OK with that.”

SCORERS

Hamilton Parish

Hollis 7, 28

PHC Zebras

Showers 19, Warren 21, Bather 25, Nisbett 45+1, Hassell 88

TEAMS

Hamilton Parish (4-2-3-1): J Roser 4 – K Wade 5, J Bean 5, Q Outerbridge 6, M Turner 5 – S McKittrick 4, J Outerbridge 6 – K Knights 5 (sub: L Richardson, 68min 5), S Hollis 7, S Albouy 5 – M Walker 7

Substitutes not used: J Steede, P Tohill, D McKittrick, A Nelson; Booked: McKittrick, Hollis

PHC Zebras (4-2-3-1): C Fubler 5 – D Smith-Lightbourne 6, J Bather 7, M Lambe 5, D Usher 6 – D Dowling 6, K Abraham 6 – T Showers 7 (sub: J Hassell, 86), M Warren 7, S Nisbett 7 (sub: Shakhai Trot, 86) – K Bean 6 (sub: D Richardson, 89)

Substitutes not used: Shaquille Trott, D Joell, K Lewis; Booked: Lambe

Referee: A Francis