PHC's week of misery continued as they were torn apart 2-0 by a rejuvenated Devonshire Colts outfit at PHC Stadium.

It was a case of power and finesse as a thunderous drive by Mark Ray 11 minutes before the break and a delicate lob by skipper Craig Smith midway through the second both found the back of the net in deciding the match in Colts' favour. The result moved them level on points with league leaders Somerset who were upset by St. George's.

Already decimated by a myriad of injuries, the Zebras were forced to play without the services of veteran forward Sammy Swan, who had picked up a hip injury during the Dudley Eve Trophy final.

This forced coach Jack Castle to start college student Shawn Russell up front but the experiment failed as the youngster was clearly out of touch and needed replacing near the end of the opening half.

Colts similarly possessed their share of hardship but after a week's rest were clearly feeling much fresher than their weary opponents.

They proceeded to run at the home side using good one-two passing in midfield and along the flanks, displaying the entertaining brand of soccer coach Lorenzo Symonds has looked for from his troops.

Most attacks were directed through wingers Ellington Weldon and Smith, both of whom proved a handful for the PHC full-backs.

But the real fireworks would come from the right boot of midfielder Ray as he thrilled the crowd with three scintillating efforts including a scorching 35-yard drive in the 34th minute that a diving Ty Williams got a hand to but could not prevent the ball from trickling over the line for Colts' first score.

Earlier Williams had proved equal to whatever the visitors could throw at him, alertly advancing to rob off the feet of Harrison Trott after only 11 minutes and 10 minutes later snatching a goal-bound drive by Ray from an acute angle on the right.

PHC, while never really able to develop any cohesiveness in attack, had a few chances of their own, but poor finishing let them down on each occasion.

Ottis Steede first made a mess of his try, blasting well over from the edge of the penalty area 16 minutes into the match.

Moments later another opportunity went by the boards when Derrick Douglas was unable to get on the end of a Steede cross with an open goal staring him.

That would be the closest the Zebras came to finding the mark as Colts reaffirmed their superiority with Ray grazing the crossbar with another long-range attempt.

The pace of the second half failed to match that of the first although the yield was similar in that Colts were able to dictate the course of events.

Williams was kept busy as he was forced to turn away two dangerous inswinging corners by Smith and watched another volley from Ray dip over the bar.

However, the 'keeper could do little to keep out a charging Smith as he outran left-back Roderick Lewis on the right and lobbed over the head of Williams into the lower left corner for the final score.

PHC: T.Williams; M.Wade, F.Ming, D.Outerbridge, R.Lewis; D.Douglas, O.Steede, J.Raynor (M.Trott, 63 mins); S.Russell (M.Smith, 36 mins), K.Mills, S.Simons.

Devonshire Colts: A.Hendrickson; D.Williams, D.Wright, J.Samuels, A.Wilson; V.Ball (M.Holdipp, 30 mins), M.Ray, L.Hypolite (K.Smith, 76 mins); C.Smith, E.Weldon, H.Trott.

Referee: John Bento.

Men of the match: Dano Outerbridge (PHC); Mark Ray (Devonshire Colts).

CRAIG SMITH -- Sealed Colts' victory with lob over Ty Williams.