PHC 0 St George’s 2

St George’s Colts captain Kashe Hall’s first-half penalty and substitute Jahron Dickinson’s late goal ended their side’s three-match winless streak, dealing champions PHC a second consecutive defeat in the Premier Division last night.

Hall put the East Enders ahead from the penalty spot in the 39th minute after Ne-Jai Tucker was brought down in the box by Eusebio King-Mills. Dickinson, who replaced Senoj Mitchell in the 67th minute, sealed the victory two minutes from time, slotting home from a Tucker pass.

The second win of the season lifted St George’s to fifth in the standings with eight points, while PHC remained third on 12 points.

Hall attributed the victory to improved unity in a side that had recently shown signs of fracturing when results went against them. Before last night’s triumph, St George’s last tasted victory on October 6, with a 3-1 win over Young Men’s Social Club.

“We stayed positive throughout the whole game,” Hall told The Royal Gazette. “Before, we were too negative with each other, but today we encouraged each other and stayed positive.

“I missed a couple of chances, but our defensive work was strong and helped us secure the win. This result gives us great motivation for our next match against Devonshire Colts. We’re going into that game feeling strong.”

PHC coach Quincy Hunt backed his team to recover from the defeat, which saw them miss an opportunity to keep pace with title rivals North Village.

“It’s not a setback for us; we just need to regroup,” Hunt said. “We were in the same position last season, so it’s not like we don’t know what we’re doing. We just have to refocus.

“Congratulations to St George’s – they came to play, and they won the game. As coach, I take full responsibility for the loss. Being rescheduled didn’t make a difference. We were at home, and we should have performed better.”

St George’s started brightly, with their captain forcing Quinaceo Hunt into a good save seven minutes into the match.

Jahiem Iris came close for PHC in the nineteenth minute when he charged at goal but failed to generate enough power to trouble Jahquill Hill.

Blaize Hall had a golden opportunity to break the deadlock in the 21st minute. Jonas Schroder drew Hunt off his line, but with the goal gaping, the Bermuda forward sent his effort wide.

Six minutes before the break, St George’s silenced the home crowd when Hall confidently converted from 12 yards.

The visiting side continued to trouble PHC in the second half, with Hall narrowly missing out on a brace in the 54th and 63rd minutes.

As PHC fought for an equaliser, Tucker displayed excellent ball control before setting up Dickinson, who finished clinically to secure all three points.

Pandemonium broke out towards the end of the match after a PHC player committed a hard foul as the home side chased the game, resulting in a coming-together between several players.

No sooner had the Jamaican referee restored order than a brawl developed on the sidelines featuring the benches of both clubs, drawing on-field players into the skirmish and causing a lengthy delay to proceedings.

Amazingly at the end of it all, once tempers cooled and the threat of abandonment was relieved, only one additional player was booked.

SCORERS

St George's: K Hall 39 pen, Dickinson 88

TEAMS

PHC (4-2-3-1): Q Hunt 6 – D Usher 6, D Lodge 6, E King-Mills 6, D Smith-Lightbourne 6 – D Smith-Davis 6 (sub: S Trott, 68 5), K Abraham 6 – T Showers 5 (sub: J Ebbin, 68 5), H Eve 5 (sub: E Russell, 59 5) J Iris 6 – A Wade 5 (sub: D Wainwright, 59 5). Substitutes not used: R Simmons, K Bean, JHassell. Booked: Eve.

St George's (4-3-3): J Hill 7 – J Bassett 6 (sub:, A Simons, 82), O Bascome 6, J Schroder 7, N Paynter 7 – K Minors 5 (sub: C Neal, 82), Q Maynard 6, K Hall 8 – B Hall 8 (sub: M Simmons, 87), S Mitchell 6 (sub: J Dickinson, 67 6), N Tucker 8. Substitutes not used: I Gibbons, T Tucker, D Lodge. Booked: Maynard, Bassett, Hill, Simmons.

Referee: N Keito (Jamaica).