PHC 1 Dandy Town 3

Dandy Town denied PHC Zebras a third straight Friendship Trophy when they triumphed in an entertaining final at Somerset Cricket Club on New Year’s Day.

David Jones Jr, substitute Lazai Outerbridge and Jahkari Furbert scored the vital goals that gave Town a fifth Friendship title as PHC, who had an Enrique Russell first-half penalty saved, replied late through Joshua Joseph from the spot.

Kyle Lightbourne, a former PHC coach, was delighted to achieve success with Town after taking the reins only in May.

“It’s such a great feeling to win my first trophy with the club in my first season,” Lightbourne told The Royal Gazette.

“The game was a little scrappy and we rode our luck because they missed a penalty and then we managed to score. I think once we got our noses in front, we were strong enough to hold on.

“I’m just disappointed that we let in a goal late in the game, but PHC gave us a really good game. It wasn't the best football being played but it was a hard-fought contest.

“We looked at every scenario and what we could do in situations. Bringing on central midfielders later in the game really calmed things down for us.”

Tomiko Goater, the Town captain, played a part in two of his team’s goals and was thrilled to finally get his hands on some silverware.

“It’s really special for me to win this trophy for the first time,” the 29-year-old said.

“I had been to a number of finals and not won it, so what a moment for me. It’s just the beginning for us, we just have to stay humble and continue with our rebuilding exercise.

“We’re taking it one game at a time since we have a new coach. This is only a stepping stone for us and we’re only going to get better going forward.”

PHC coach Quincy Hunt felt that his side were always in the game but failed to capitalise on their chances.

“It was all about chances and they finished theirs, we didn’t finish ours,” he said.

“Missing a penalty is part of the game. If we had scored that penalty in the first half, things could have been a little different.

“It’s football, we have to take the good with the bad. We've been on the other side of the coin for a few years now, so things will not always go our way.

In a tight first half, Russell had a great opportunity to give PHC the lead from the spot in the thirteenth minute after he was impeded by Terrence Webb Jr. Russell tried to go down the middle but goalkeeper Jaiden Manders saved the effort using his knees.

Two minutes after the penalty miss, Goater saw his effort come back off the post as Town sought to punish their opponents.

Town struck first after half an hour when Jones, who scored for his boyhood club in the semi-final win over Hamilton Parish on Friday, connected with a long pass from Furbert and rounded Quinaceo Hunt to score.

“It feels really good to win my first trophy in Bermuda,” Jones, 27, said. “It was my plan coming here to win trophies with them.

“We have a system that is working right now and that’s what happened today. We worked hard as a team and we got the job done.”

PHC pushed for an equaliser in the second half but a huge call from referee Amaury Majors denied Zebras an equaliser in the 63rd minute when Eusebio King-Mills was adjudged to have committed a foul before firing the ball into the net.

That allowed Town to double their advantage in the 79th minute when substitute Lazai Outerbridge, who had replaced Ereico Outerbridge just ten minutes earlier, fired the ball into the net from a Goater cross.

PHC pulled a goal back from the penalty spot in the first minute of added time through Joseph after Harlem Bean-Fox was brought down inside the box.

Just when PHC were looking to mount a remarkable late comeback, their hopes were ended when Jahkari Furbert scored in the seventh minute of added time to seal it for Town.

Jones did tremendously well to hold off three defenders on the left before laying the ball off to Goater. His cross came off the crossbar after Hunt failed to deal with the ball and Furbert had the easy task of tapping it in.

SCORERS

PHC: Joseph 90+1 pen

Dandy Town: Jones 30, L Outerbridge 79, Furbert 90+7

TEAMS

PHC (4-3-3): Q Hunt 5 – D Smith-Lightbourne 6, E King-Mills 6, D Lodge 6, D Smith-Davis 6 – E Joseph 6, K Abraham 6 (sub: H Bean-Fox, 59min 6), C McDowall 6 (sub: J Ebbin, 85) – H Eve 5 (sub: A Astwood, 59 5), J Joseph 7, E Russell 6 (sub: D Wainwright, 85). Substitutes not used: A Wade, T Showers, S Nisbett, Y Burgess. Booked: King-Mills

Dandy Town (4-3-3): J Manders 6 – E Outerbridge 6 (sub: L Outerbridge, 69), E Blankendal 7, D Leverock 7, T Webb 7 – J Samuels 7 (sub: A Trott, 82), A Lewis 6 (sub: A Moore, 82), T Goater 8 – J Furbert 7, D Jones 8, N Ntalu 6 (sub: A Simmons, 69 5). Substitutes notused: M Isaac, A Daniels, O Wilson, T Place. Booked: Samuels

Referee: A Majors.

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