Trevin Ming, the Somerset Trojans captain, hailed the influence of the home crowd after his team’s 2-1 win over PHC Zebras in the Friendship Trophy final at an atmospheric Somerset Cricket Club yesterday.

First-half goals from Leo Burgess from the penalty spot and a superb finish from the impressive Justin Donawa handed Trojans a two-goal cushion at half-time.

Rakeem DeShields, the Zebras captain, pulled a goal back with a header from a corner kick early in the second half but Trojans held firm to secure Keishon Smith his first piece of silverware as the team’s head coach.

Ming praised the fighting spirit of his team-mates and believed they had got their tactics spot on against Zebras this time having lost to them 6-1 in the Premier Division last month.

“I’m really proud of the players today,” Ming said. “The last time we met PHC we made the mistake of sitting back against them.

“But in this game, especially in front of our home crowd, we knew we couldn’t do that.

“We tried to take the game to them and kept pressuring them the whole time. We showed a lot of heart and deserved the win.”

Ming said Burgess’s sixteenth-minute penalty helped settle the team’s nerves and singled out Donawa for his all-action display.

“The penalty definitely helped,” he said. “There was a big roar from the crowd when it went it and they gave us a lot of fight to keep going.

“[Justin] is a top player for us. He’s away at college getting some good exposure and he always brings some quality to the team.”

PHC enjoyed plenty of possession in the second period but failed to make it count as Somerset looked to catch their opponents on the break.

“We knew PHC were going to come hard in the second half because they were two goals down,” Ming said. “They scored a quick one but we set up defensively and made sure we kept our discipline.

“This win will give us a lot of confidence and everyone will be uplifted for the second half of the season.”

A downhearted DeShields believed PHC had played the more attractive football but admitted the team’s poor finishing had been their downfall.

“It was one of those days when we dominated but couldn’t find the back of net,” he said. “We have no one else to blame but ourselves.

“It didn’t fall for us today but we showed great character in the second half to get back into the game and we kept on fighting.

“I still feel we were the best team in the second half but things didn’t work out for us in the final third.”

DeShields said he did not believe the home-crowd support had been a critical factor on deciding the outcome of the match.

“I didn’t think that was a factor,” he said. “We knew what were coming up to and we knew what it was going to be like. It was just one of those days.”