PHC 1 Devonshire Colts 1

Quinaceo Hunt saved a late penalty to earn PHC a point at home to Devonshire Colts on Saturday night.

Hunt saved the effort by Chemarl Henry, who had earlier pulled Colts level in the third minute of first-half added time after PHC had taken the lead through Enrique Russell in the 41st minute.

In a first half riddled with mistakes, both sides struggled to string two or three passes together, with Colts perhaps showing better composure on the ball under pressure but struggling to gain territory.

In the first clear opening of the night, Chemarl Henry cut back for Sage Blair-Paynter at the edge of the penalty area but his side-footed effort flew high and wide.

PHC slowly regained control midway through the first half and their first meaningful chance of the game came from a set piece. Keishon Bean whipped a beautiful free kick towards goal, forcing Colts keeper Jaden Mills-Furbert to tip it off the crossbar. T'syi Showers also kept Mills-Furbert on his toes from the resulting corner, which the goalkeeper pushed out of danger.

The home side would finally open the scoring from the penalty spot three minutes before half time. Antonio Wade was fouled by Colts defender Deszion Davis just inside the penalty area and referee Tashun Simons took his time before pointing to the spot.

Enrique Russell gave Mills-Furbert no chance with the resulting penalty as the league champions took the lead.

Colts quickly recovered from that setback and started to heap pressure on the PHC defence. That pressure paid off when Keino Burch clipped a beautiful free-kick into an unmarked Henry, who flicked a glorious header over Hunt into the net.

Both teams came out from the break with attacking intent, and started to utilise the pace and skill of their wide players. Zebras had the first big chance when Jaylon Bather clipped a beautiful pass into the chest of Enrique Russell, who laid off for Antonio Wade. He did well to evade one challenge and create space for the shot, but could not direct his effort on target.

PHC replaced forward D’Andre Wainwright with pacey winger Xave Smith just after the hour and moved Russell into the central role after Colts had done similar a few minutes before, withdrawing Blair-Paynter for promising winger Brandon O'Connor and shifting Henry up front.

Colts had the best opportunity to snatch three points from an edgy encounter when substitute Robert Urquhart was fouled by De-Aun Lodge. Despite cries for offside in the build-up, Simons awarded the penalty. However, Hunt guessed the right way to preserve a point for Zebras.

Colts created one final opportunity with O'Connor winning the ball in the final third. He passed to Jahkeylo Burgess, who fed the overlapping Daniel Ball. However, the substitute misplaced his cross into the penalty area and the chance was gone.

SCORERS

PHC: Russell 42 pen

Devonshire Colts: Henry 45+3

TEAMS

PHC Zebras (4-4-1-1): Q Hunt 7 – D Lodge 5, D Usher 6, J Bather 6, J Belboda-Raveneau 5 – A Wade 6, K Bean 5 (sub: R Simmons, 81min), T Showers 6, Y Burgess 5 (sub: J Sealey, 63 5) – E Russell 6 – D Wainwright 5 (sub: X Smith, 63 5). Substitutes not used: J Hassell, M Wilson, J Symons, T Bean. Booked: Bather, Wainwright, Sealey.

Devonshire Colts (4-2-3-1): J Mills-Furbert 6 – J Paynter 6, D Davis 5, J Dublin 6, S Burgess 5 – J Salaam 6 (sub: R Urquhart, 77), J Burgess 6 – K Burch 6 (sub: D Ball, 61 5), T Eve 6, C Henry 6 – S Blair-Paynter 5 (sub: B O’Connor, 61 5). Substitutes not used: Malahku Selassie, Z Simmons, A Smith, S Tatem, A Van Duyne. Booked: Eve, J Burgess, A Smith, Blair-Paynter, Urquhart.

Referee: T Simons