PHC 4 Hamilton Parish 1

Enrique Russell scored twice in the space of three first-half minutes as PHC Zebras cruised into the FA Cup semi-final with a comprehensive victory over a depleted Hamilton Parish in cold conditions at PHC field on Saturday night.

The Premier Division champions, who stand only an outside chance of retaining their title, started off with attacking intent in their quest for another trophy and earned themselves an early penalty.

Enrique Russell was played through by Kadeem Abraham and he rounded Parish goalkeeper Nigel Burgess, who committed a foul before Russell was able to find the empty net. The striker tried to place the resulting penalty into the near post, but it lacked power and Burgess easily got down to smother it.

However, within ten minutes of saving the penalty, Burgess made a meal of a set-piece to gift PHC the breakthrough. T’syi Showers whipped a corner into the six-yard box, and Burgess parried it into his far corner for an own goal.

Midway through the first half, Russell stole the show. First, he cut inside from the edge of the area to unleash a beautiful strike that no goalkeeper would keep out. Straight from the resulting kick-off, PHC regained the ball and Haile Eve switched the play for Abraham, who nodded the ball down for Russell to take one touch and whip a low effort around a Parish defender into the far corner.

PHC continued to probe as Parish knew they had no choice but to push numbers forward. The home side exploited that space well for their fourth goal, this time Russell winning the ball from a slightly deeper position. He fed Jayden Ebbin, who tried to chip a pass into the path of D'Andre Wainwright. Parish defender Jarye Bean tried to cut it out, but Wainwright took the ball off his toes and finished low past Burgess.

Parish had their best spell of possession at the end of the first half without creating anything of note and losing the ball too often in midfield and wide areas. However, a lack of squad depth with just two available substitutes left their chances looking slim of mounting any form of comeback.

PHC knew they did not have to exert major energy in the second half and started going through the motions. This lack of urgency allowed Parish to gain territory and led to an early chance for Gianni Burgess, who missed wide after being played through by Jordan Outerbridge.

Zebras could have had a fifth as the game opened up and both sides continued to press. Wainwright held up a long pass and played in Russell, who saw the overlap of Abraham. However, he could not keep his shot on target.

Parish would grab a consolation three minutes before the end. Zuhri Burgess pushed a pass into Outerbridge, who did well to squeeze the ball into visiting captain Macquille Walker, who finished into the bottom corner.

Scorers:

PHC: Burgess 17 og, Russell 21, 23, Wainwright 35

Hamilton Parish: Walker 87

TEAMS

PHC (4-2-3-1): Q Hunt 6 – T Showers 6, J Bather 6, D Lodge 5 (sub: R Simmons, 84min), J Belboda-Raveneau 6 – J Ebbin 6 (sub: K Bean, 66 5), D Usher 6 – H Eve 6 (sub: A Wade, 66 5), E Russell 8 (sub: T Bean, 84), K Abraham 6 (sub: X Smith, 79) – D Wainwright 7. Substitutes not used: J Hassell, D Dowling. Booked: Russell

Hamilton Parish (4-2-3-1): N Burgess 6 – K Knights 5, Y Ibaraguen Ramirez 6, Q Outerbridge 6, J Outerbridge 7 – Z Burgess 5, J Bean 5 – K Trott 5, M Walker 6, G Burgess 5 – C Binnie 4. Substitutes not used: A Foy, G Wade. Booked: Outerbridge.

Referee: A Majors.