Devonshire Colts 1 PHC 0

A youthful Devonshire Colts outfit showed character to end PHC’s 100 per cent record in a thrilling encounter at Police Field.

Sage Blair-Paynter scored the only goal of the game in the first half and then relied on his team-mates to defend tirelessly throughout the remainder of the match to contain the attack-minded Zebras and earn a hard-fought three points, much to the delight of coach Ray Jones.

“The results didn’t go our way in our previous two matches, so I asked my players to look at the crest on their shirts and see the word ‘character,’” Jones said.

“Going up against the defending league champions, I challenged them to play with some character and they pulled through, so I am very proud of them.”

The match started at a high tempo from both teams but Colts were playing with a medium block and then a high press which unsettled the pin-striped unit.

Despite the tactical strategy from Colts, PHC had the first threatening attack when Jayden Ebbin hit a firm drive forcing Colts’ goalkeeper Jaden Mills-Furbert to make a spectacular diving save full length to his right to pull the ball in.

The only goal of the game then came in the sixteenth minute when full-back Jaquari Paynter won possession and played a diagonal ball to the back post for stand-in captain Jori Dublin to knock back into the centre where Blair-Paynter was unmarked to sidefoot beyond the stranded Quinaceo Hunt in the PHC goal.

PHC nearly equalised a few minutes later when Haile Eve sneaked between defenders to receive a weighted pass but goalkeeper Mills-Furbert was equal to the task to deny his effort with his foot.

On the half-hour mark, Colts mounted a quick counter-attack with Brandon O’Connor feeding Chemarl Henry, who beat his marker before unleashing a piledriver only for goalkeeper Hunt to dive full length and push the goalbound effort around the post.

The second half featured a shift in momentum as PHC started to play more direct in search of an equalider. D’Andre Wainwright did some good work to bring the ball under control and lay off to Jenico Sealey but goalkeeper Mills-Furbert cradled his effort.

As time ticked on, centre-half Jaylon Bather pushed forward to support the attack as PHC started to pump long balls into the box in search of a goal. Sealey, Eve and Bather all had promising efforts either blocked by a stubborn Colts defence marshalled by Dublin and Zion Simmons or a vigilant Colts goalkeeper Mills-Furbert, who was at his best and positioned himself well to nullify everything that came his way.

The final ten minutes of the game were frantic, with PHC throwing everything forward and the Colts goalkeeper having to make two crucial saves with only seconds remaining on the clock.

A long free-kick found PHC wing-back Kadeem Abraham, who rose highest to get off a powerful header but Mills-Furbert stretched full length to make a stunning fingertip save to push the ball over the top before making a point-blank save on the goal-line to deny Bather as the whistle sounded to end the match.

Elsewhere in the Premier Division on Sunday afternoon, Hamilton Parish picked up their first point of the season with a 2-2 draw against Dandy Town.

SCORERS

Devonshire Colts: Blair-Paynter 16

Teams

Devonshire Colts (4-2-3-1): J Mills-Furbert 8 — S Burgess 6 (sub: J Saunders, 83min), Z Simmons 7, J Dublin 7, J Paynter 7 — M Salessie 6, A Van Duyne 6 — K Burch 7 (sub: J Jackson, 83), C Henry 5 (sub: F Markham, 69 5), B O’Connor 6 (sub: S Tatem, 46 5) — Sage Blair-Paynter 7 (sub: Shannon Burchall, 69 5). Substitutes not used: I Greaves, E Weldon. Booked: Burgess, Simmons, Burch, O’Connor, Van Duyne.

PHC Zebras (4-2-3-1): Q Hunt 6 — K Abraham 6, D Lodge 6, J Bather 7, D Smith-Lightbourne 6 — T Showers 6, D Smith-Davis 5 (sub: R Simmons, 83) — Y Burgess 5 (sub: J Sealey, 32 6), J Ebbin 6 (sub: A Wade, 83), H Eve 7 — D Wainwright 7. Substitutes not used: N Griffith, T Bean, M Smith, M Lambe. Booked: Wainwright.

Referee: A Majors