Young Men’s Social Club 0 PHC Zebras 6

PHC continued their ruthless streak in front of goal as they fired six past Young Men’s Social Club to in the Dudley Eve Trophy group stages.

Ryan Hassell took full advantage of his first competitive start of the campaign, netting a hat-trick in the second half and he was pleased with the way PHC expressed themselves in that period.

“We didn’t do enough in the first half,” Hassell said.

“However, we stepped it up in the second and we showcased our quality.”

Social Club started brightly, taking advantage of a few lapses of concentration in possession by the reigning league champions and breaking quickly on the counter-attack, with skipper Ryan Parris dropping deep to begin the attacks.

David Jones Jr missed their best opportunity to open the scoring and gain deserved reward for their strong start when he fired straight at goalkeeper Shaquille Trott after being found in space by Malique Wilson.

Zebras got their act together and opened the scoring 20 minutes in when their captain Daren Usher found Keishon Bean on the left flank. Bean tried to skip past Callon Woolridge, but the defender took him down just outside the box to allow T’Syi Showers to curl the resulting free-kick low into the far post beyond the outstretched arms of Ryan Evans.

Less than five minutes later, PHC doubled their advantage when Usher found Jahiem Iris with a driven through-ball inside the area, and the attacker turned sharply to fire past Evans.

PHC continued their dominance through the end of the first half, but missed several clear-cut opportunities to close out the match, but in the first minute of additional time befoe the break, Zebras found the third goal their dominance deserved.

Keishon Bean had his initial effort deflected, but Showers was on hand to roll the rebound into the far corner.

Hassell then showcased his finishing prowess in the second half, by which point Social Club were running out of methods to penetrate the stubborn and organised Zebras defence.

Iris turned provider for Hassell’s first goal, driving to the goal line before cutting back for the unmarked striker to easily sidefoot past Evans.

Diondre Dowling also came alive in the second period, dictating the tempo of possession from deep and getting the assist for Hassell’s second three minutes later, this time from a driven pass toward the penalty spot which the attacker guided past Evans with his left foot.

Just before the hour, DeAndre Smith-Lightbourne got on the creativity train, feeding Hassell for his third strike with an incisive pass for the finish into the roof of the net.

SCORERS

PHC: Showers 19, 45+1; Hassell 51, 54, 59; Iris 23

TEAMS

Young Men’s Social Club (4-2-3-1): R Evans 4 – R Clacken 4 (sub: Keshun Butterfield, 83min), C Woolridge 4, Kelvon Butterfield 4, K Smith 4 – M Rudo 5, B Swan 3 – D Jones Jr 5, R Parris 5, M Wilson 4 (sub: N Armstrong, 55 4) – J Mallory. Substitutes not used: G Butterfield.

PHC Zebras (4-3-3): S Trott 6 – D Smith-Lightbourne 5, J Bather 6, D Lodge 4, D Usher 6 – D Dowling 7, K Abraham 6 (sub: J Ebbin, 72), R Hassell 8 (sub: S Nisbett, 72)– T Showers 7 (sub: D Richardson, 72), K Bean 6 (sub: N Furbert 61 4), J Iris 6 (sub: M Simmons, 61 5). Substitutes not used: J Sealey, J Simons

Referee: A Majors