PHC Zebras maintained their one-point lead at the top of the Premier Division after North Village and Dandy Town Hornets shared the points in a six-goal thriller at Bernard Park yesterday.

The Zebras were held to a 1-1 draw away to Robin Hood at Goose Gosling Field on Saturday night to leave the door ajar for title hopefuls Village and Town. Neither team were able to take advantage of PHC’s third game without a win, with Trey Durham rescuing a point for second-place Town late on.

Kwame Steede, the Town player-coach, said he was disappointed with having to settle for a point, believing his side squandered several scoring opportunities.

“Simple mistakes hurt us today,” Steede said. “Our execution wasn’t on; the game was supposed to be over in the first half with the chances we missed.

“Our hats go off to Village, it was a good game but for us it is disappointing. ”

Hood, who are three points off top spot, took the lead against PHC through Shakir Smith, a former Zebras player, in the 37th minute before Idrees Sharrieff levelled in the 80th minute.

John Barry Nusum, the Hood player-coach, believed his side did enough to deserve the victory.

“We needed three points to go level with them [PHC] and didn’t get them, so I wasn’t satisfied with the result,” Nusum said. “We wanted to win and looked to win but didn’t get the win, which now puts them, North Village and Dandy Town in a better position.”

“I thought we could have played better. Defensively our shape was good but we didn’t keep the ball long enough to change momentum as we would like to do as a team.”

Scott Morton, the PHC coach, was fulsome in his praise of game-changer Sharrieff.

“That’s what game-changers are there for, to go on and change the game, and so for me he [Sharrieff] just did his job,” Morton said. “I just love the resilience of my team to be able to come back like that and keep the belief.”

Also on Saturday, Devonshire Cougars defeated struggling Boulevard 2-1 at Devonshire Recreation Club thanks to a late goal from Moses Steede. Cougars are now three points behind Zebras.

Juma Mouchette opened the scoring in the 32nd minute before Jahzardae Samuels levelled for Boulevard in the 58th minute.

“My goal was all about reaction time,” Steede said. “I saw the cross and felt that if the keeper made a mistake I had to be ready to pounce.

Boulevard coach Troy Smith said: “Boulevard’s main objective moving forward is survival. It’s been a long season. We have fought hard all season and we fought hard today.”

Flanagan’s Onions are now seven points from safety after losing 3-2 to fellow relegation strugglers Somerset Trojans at Somerset Cricket Club.

Onions were leading 2-1 when they lost goalkeeper Chejon Berkeley and left back Nicoy Anglin to injury before a two-goal blitz sealed the points for Somerset. Winger Leo Burgess gave the Trojans a perfect start when he opened the scoring in the second minute, but the visiting side struck back through a brace from captain Treshun Smith either side of the interval.

Two late strikes, however, from Makai Joell and Justin Corday broke Onions hearts and lifted Somserset to their fourth win of the campaign.

“This result is enormous for us,” Danvers Seymour Jr, the Trojans coach, said. “It felt like it was slipping away, but we played right to the end and got the job done. We needed three points and we got them. We had to dig deep and it seems like it takes us to get into a hard situation to put our foot on the pedal.”

X-Roads continued their superb season with a 4-1 win away to basement dwellers courtesy of goals from Jahmel Swan, Tymon Daniels and a brace by Kashi Davis-Jones.