PHC 7

Hamilton Parish 2

PHC Zebras have established themselves as one of the teams to beat in the Player Development League Tournament after a second half blitz blew away Hamilton Parish at BFA Field yesterday.

The young Zebras played some slick football with Tre Ming instrumental in midfield as Ryan Nelson opened the scoring in the eighth minute and closed out a frantic second half with a 77th minute penalty for his second goal of the game.

Nelson broke the deadlock with a simple sidefoot from close range, before a cross from the right by Casey Castle saw Marco Warren drive home his effort in the 23rd minute to give PHC a 2-0 lead at the half.

The goals came fast and furious after the restart with Parish pulling one back in the 53rd minute when Denzil Nelson scored an own goal from a corner on the left.

PHC regained their two-goal a minute later when Larri Simons found the net.

Moments later Parish scored the best goal of the game to bring it back to 3-2 when a poor kick by PHC goalkeeper Treaz Place found John Hunt-Tucker 25 yards from goal and after one touch he smashed a left-footed shot into the roof of the net with Place stranded off his line.

That would be the closest Parish would get to threatening an upset as they were reduced to ten men on the hour when Neundae Simons drew his second booking for a crunching tackle on Ming.

After that PHC seized control with four unanswered goals to complete an outstanding display.

Immediately Julian Carpenter made it 4-2 before Simons scored his second goal of the game in the 65th minute to make it 5-2. Khamasi Lighhtbourne made it 6-2 in the 75th minute and Hassell finished things off with his second goal in the 77th minute when he was fouled inside the box and scored the penalty himself, sending the goalkeeper the wrong way.

PHC advanced to the quarter-finals from Group B along with Somerset Trojans as Hamilton Parish finished third in the group. The draw is scheduled for today with the quarter-finals taking place next Saturday at BFA and Goose Gosling Fields.