PHC 4 Dandy Town 0

Four goals from Dennis Russell destroyed a desperately disjointed Dandy Town to keep PHC's title challenge on course at Southampton Oval.

The burly striker struck twice either side of half-time to consolidate Zebra's position at the summit of the Premier Division table, two points ahead of a resurgent North Village.

Russell broke the deadlock on 17 minutes scrambling home Keston Lewis' low driven cross at the near post, and quickly doubled his tally with a close range header from Blenn Bean's swirling free-kick.

Dandy Town had barely managed to muster an attack before Raynel Lightbourne found himself completely alone with a clear run on Mikkail Crockwell's goal.

However, everything about the gangly striker's approach play lacked any real conviction with his hesitancy allowing Hornet's defence to stage a recovery and block his weak shot for a corner. The PHC supporters scattered around the ground groaned in unison at the striker who should have really buried his chance.

In fairness to Hornets they started the second period with at least some vigour with Lloyd Holder prodding over from a corner, and Shakir Smith sending a fizzing strike from the edge of the box inches wide.

But PHC's success this season has built upon an unyielding defence and once again Kevin Richards and Omar Shakir were winning their personal battles against Hornets' frontrunners.

Shakir threatened at the other end when he stung Crockwell's palms with a powerful 20-yard strike, which the keeper was forced to push behind for a corner.

On 81-minutes Russell, who had been a constant nuisance throughout, out-muscled Hornet's skipper Dennis Zuill before sliding the ball past Crockwell to complete his hat-trick.

He then finished the rout on 88-minutes, even though he made a real hash of his stab at substitute Jesse Almeida's squared pass. But on a day when Russell was enjoying the goalscoring touch of King Midas even his shanked effort looped over the line.

Coach Kyle Lightbourne has now urged his marksman to prove himself as one of the Premier Division's leading strikers. "Dennis is capable of scoring 20-goals a season in this league and took his chances well.

"Although we could have played better I was pleased with the way we handled Dandy Town's second-half pressure. It was also pleasing to see our skipper Chris Furbert make his return from injury. He's a big influence for us and we really missed him over the Christmas period."

PHC: J.Smith I.Barry (R.Richardson 45) K.Richards O.Shakir C.Dowling B.Bean K.Lewis C.Furbert D.Russell R.Lightbourne (R.Jahnai 69) C.Robinson (J.Almeida 82)

Dandy Town: M.Crockwell D.Signor M.Parson D.Zuill O.Steede S.Darrell (L.Dill 75) H.Wolfe L.Holder A.Russell S.Smith E.Signor

Referee: G.O'Brien

Yellow Cards: D.Zuill

Man-of-the-Match: D.Russell (PHC)