Holders Village out as PHC, Onions advance
Robin Hood 2 PHC 4Shakir Smith scored a hat-trick as PHC twice came from behind to beat Robin Hood last night at BAA Field.An upset looked on the cards when Quadir Maynard gave Hood the lead after just 26 seconds. And it might have been, had striker Antwan Russell’s shot not hit the crossbar minutes later as the PHC defence was again penetrated.Gradually the Zebras fought their way back into the match, wiping out Robin Hood’s one-goal lead in the 26th minute when Smith dribbled past three players on the left side of the penalty box before his shot was turned over the line by defender Musceo Hunt.Hood continued to look threatening on the break in a fast-paced match and five minutes into the second half they went in front again when Joshua Crockwell took advantage of some slack PHC defending to sneak into the box and drive a left-footed shot past goalkeeper Troy Hall Jr.The match remained wide open as Smith’s pace continued to unsettle the Robin Hood defence. Maynard’s long range shot caught Hall off guard as it grazed the bar, but two minutes later PHC scored a second equaliser when Cecoy Robinson scrambled the ball over the line after his effort was half-blocked in the 68th minute.PHC took control after that as Smith put them in front for the first time in the 75th minute when his freekick was brilliantly curled into the near post from the right edge of the penalty box. Smith then completed his hat-trick in the first minute of injury time when a smart move by the Zebras opened up the Robin Hood defence. Robinson drove the ball low and hard back across the six-yard box and Smith met it at the far post to tap in a simple goal and seal PHC’s fightback.Dominique Williams, booked for the foul which resulted in Smith’s second goal from the freekick, was shown the red card after the final whistle for dissent.Flanagan’s Onions 4 North Village 4 (aet)(Onions win 4-2 on penalties)North Village suffered possibly their most frustrating defeat of the season as Onions came from three goals down to knock the three-time defending champions out of the Friendship Trophy.The Rams, who lost to Onions in the league recently, were on course for one of their most impressive wins of the season...then disaster struck. Playing some neat, fluent football for the first hour, Village were rewarded with a 3-0 lead after 68 minutes. But complacency set in as they made a double substitution in the 72nd minute and quickly began to lose their grip on the match as Onions scored three times in the last 22 minutes, including twice in the last two minutes to force extra time. Village played the last period of extra time with ten men after Kaiwon Dill went off injured, and Onions built on the momentum to outscore them on kicks from the penalty spot.It was all going Village’s way in the first half as they took a deserved lead in the 32nd minute through Kaiwon Dill after some good build-up play. Three minutes later it was 2-0 when Tarik Jennings dropped a high ball behind the Onions defence and Clay Darrell got on the end of it to steer the ball past the keeper Stephen Gould.Twice in the space of a minute late in the half Jemeiko Jennings fed perfect diagonal passes into Darrell’s path but he wasted both chances that would have sealed the match by half time. But it didn’t seem to matter when Joshua DeSilva added a third in the 65th minute from an acute angle after Darrell started the move.When Kevin Ronaldson pulled one back three minutes later it only looked like being a consolation effort, but slowly Onions were getting back into the game. Two minutes of regulation time were left when Onions astonishingly turned the match around, scoring through captain Phil Matthews’ header in the 88th minute from a corner on the right. Then substitute Peter Robey made it 3-3 in the last minute with a low shot.Village regained the lead in the first minute of extra time when substitute Koshun Durrant converted from close range. But they allowed Onions to score another equaliser in the 12th minute when another sub, Zaniko Hendrickson, needlessly fouled Brian Amoro from behind while he was running the ball out of the penalty box. Kevin Ronaldson duly converted the spotkick to make it 4-4.Onions would finally take control of the match during the penalty kicks, scoring through Ronaldson, Keith Szmierek, Robey and Sam Butler while Keishen Bean and Durrant netted Village’s first two kicks before Jemeiko Jennings’ effort was saved and Lashun Dill blasted well over the crossbar.