PHC 3 St. George's 1

Dennis Russell's education in top-flight football continued at an appreciable pace after his second-half winner at St. John's field last night took PHC into the Friendship Trophy second round.

Russell scored with a low right-foot shot that dribbled into the far corner after Raynel Lightbourne and Ottis Steede weaved a path through the St. George's defence. It was as much as the Zebras deserved for a much-improved second-half display which saw them make most of the running. And right at the end, after St. George's had thrown all they could at the Zebras, Lightbourne scored with the aid of a deflection after Jevon Sealy's persevering run to cap.

In what is becoming a trend, Mark Wade, the PHC coach, again refused comment but Neil Paynter, of St. George's, had plenty to say after his team failed to take advantage of their early superiority, which yielded a goal by William Pitt.

"I'm very disappointed but on the positive side we created a lot more chances this game than we've created throughout the first half of the season," he said. "The first half was a model of how I would like us to play every game, with the exception of missing the chances."

The confidence that PHC gained from riding high at the top of the Premier Division was knocked somewhat early on as St. George's appeared capable of penetrating their defence whenever Pitt linked up with Sinclair Gibbons.

Herbie Bascome had the first clear chance in the ninth minute when he reacted quickest to indecision at the heart of the PHC defence and stole in against young 'keeper Dennis Joell, who did superbly in making himself big to deflect the left-foot shot wide.

The chief threat for the Zebras was Russell, who struck the post with a header in the 25th minute after a cross by Nathan Simons. St. George's gamble of reinstalling Gregg Foggo to the starting line-up backfired when the midfield player hobbled off in the 28th minute but they were to take the lead three minutes later. After a St. George's miskick the ball ran to Bascome on the left and he picked out Pitt neatly for the opening strike.

Gibbons missed a golden opportunity to put the east-enders two up in the 41st minute when he headed against the bar after the first real mistake made by Joell, who misjudged Pitt's cross but was spared when the ball rebounded into his arms.

St. George's paid almost immediately as Steede equalised after Raynel Lightbourne made the opening in the 44th minute. The half ended in frenetic fashion with chances at both ends, the best spurned by Pitt after he appeared to be in an offside position.

PHC's improvement after the interval was marked as they ran hard at St. George's with Steede and Joell prominent. St. George's goalkeeper Khabir Dill saved superbly from Lightbourne's close-range header but the signs were there.

At the other end, Bascome's quick thinking set Mackie Crane, Foggo's replacement, free on the right but the youngster rushed his shot high and wide. Just before PHC made the game safe, Joell was in the right spot to turn away a header by Bascome during a desperate final assault.

PHC: D.Joell; C.Dowling, C.Furbert, S.Lewis, J.Ball (J.Sealy, 69 mins); O.Steede, D.Outerbridge, N.Simons (K.Mills, 65 mins); D.Russell, R.Lightbourne, S.Russell (S.Astwood, 51 mins). Substitutes not used: D.Wilson, A.Washington.

Dandy Town: K.Dill; D.Bailey, D.Wright, U.Fox; G.Foggo (M.Crane, 28 mins), M.Outerbridge, E.Signor (N.Paynter, 81 mins); H.Bascome; K.Williams, W.Pitt, S.Gibbons (K.Butterfield, 83 mins). Substitute not used: R.Steede.

Men of the match: Ottis Steede (PHC); Dean Bailey (St. George's).

Referee: A.Mouchette.