PHC Zebras 3 Young Men’s Social Club 1

PHC Zebras boosted their Premier Division title hopes after coming away with a comfortable win over Young Men’s Social Club at PHC Field last night.

Striker Enrique Russell led the home side’s charge with a brace while Jayden Ebbin also got his name on to the scoresheet. The visitors replied through Jinairo Johnson’s consolation strike that denied PHC the shutout win.

The result brought the champions to within a point of leaders North Village, who host unpredictable Paget Lions at Bernard Park on Sunday.

Roderick Lewis, the PHC assistant coach, was happy with the result but stressed there is still work to be done if his team are to prevail in one of the tightest title races in recent memory.

“It’s not over. We have to take one game at a time, do what we have to do and then see what happens on the other side. That’s all we can concentrate on,” he told The Royal Gazette.

As for his team’s display, Lewis added: “The performance wasn’t bad, especially because we have a lot of injuries at the moment.

“We told the guys they have to work together as a team to get the job done, and we were successful tonight.”

PHC’s margin of victory could have been wider had they not wasted clear opportunities and conceded a soft goal.

“We missed some chances and we have to get better at defending and keeping out goals at the same time,” Lewis said.

Needing to secure the points to keep pace with Village, PHC came out swinging and went close to breaking the deadlock with midfielder Na’eem Griffith and D'Andre Wainwright each striking the woodwork.

The home team mounted waves of attacks and their unrelenting pressure finally paid off when Ebbin made the breakthrough. The Social Club defence failed to clear T'ysi Showers's cross in the area and Ebbin pounced on the loose ball and squeezed a left- footed shot inside Pierre Smith's near post.

Chances were few and far between for Social Club, with PHC stopper Quinaceo Hunt only being called upon to save Giniko Butterfield's free kick at the near post and Jomeko Mallory's effort from inside the box after Diondre Dowling conceded possession deep in their own half.

Social Club started the second period brightly and were unfortunate not to have equalised when Josh Hardtman failed to connect with sibling Mical’s cross from close range.

It proved to be a costly miss, as Russell grabbed his first goal of the night to double his team’s advantage. Strike partner Wainwright dispossessed defender Teron Butterfield and dribbled towards the touchline before squaring a pass to Russell, who tapped in from close range.

Social Club squandered another glorious opportunity moments later when Mical Hardtman dragged his shot wide with only Hunt to beat, while at the other end, Smith positioned himself well to save Russell’s rasping shot from long range.

However, the striker was not denied shortly after as he beat Smith with a ferocious low drive from an acute angle to put the match beyond reach.

Social Club battled on courageously and were finally rewarded when Johnson was allowed plenty of time and space in the area to lash home a loose ball and deny Hunt a clean sheet.

“I was very happy with our first half but thought in the second we got a little bit out of shape and indisciplined. And when you do that against good teams like Zebras, they are going to make you pay,” Mike Smith, the Social Club coach, said.

“We were unfortunate on a few occasions in the first half as well and they just put their chances away in the second half. We made the mistakes and they punished us.”

SCORERS

PHC: Ebbin 23, Russell 66, 73

Social Club: Johnson 76

TEAMS

PHC Zebras (3-5-2): Q Hunt 7 — D Usher 6, D Dowling 6, J Ebbin 7 (sub: K Bean, 59min 6) — K Abraham 6, T Showers 7, N Griffith 5 (sub: M Simmons, 68), J Sealy 5 (sub: A Wade, 59 6), H Eve 7 (sub: Y Burgess, 83) — D Wainwright 6, E Russell 7. Substitutes not used: M Wilson. Booked: Russell, Sealy, Dowling.

Young Men’s Social Club (4-4-2): P Smith 6 — M Hardtman 6 (sub: A Matthews, 81), T Butterfield 6, J Richardson 6 (sub: B Swan, 74), M Rudo 6 — J Johnson 6, R Parris 5, T Tucker 5, G Butterfield 6 — P Mallory 6 (sub: M Wilson, 65 5), J Hardtman 6 (sub: K Singh, 81). Substitutes not used: R Evans, K Gilbert. Booked: Johnson.

Referee: C Culley (Barbados).