Dandy Town 1 PHC Zebras 2

It seems Premier Division champions PHC Zebras will not relinquish their crown withhout a fight as they battled to victory at Goose Gosling Field on Saturday night.

Just as the game appeared to be heading for a draw, Kadeem Abraham’s strike found its way through a maze of players to settle in the bottom left corner of the net to secure all three points.

“We took a little long to get going,” happy goalscorer Abraham said after the match.

“I guess it was because we have been out for a couple of weeks but in the second half we regrouped and played a lot better football. We knocked the ball around to try to control the tempo of the match and didn’t feed into the physical game they were playing.”

The game started at a quick pace with both teams trying to play through their respective midfields but the two familiar foes kept each other in check by cutting out that last important pass.

Town captain Tomiko Goater had the game’s first threatening attack but his firm drive was straight at PHC goalkeeper Quinaceo Hunt, who was well positioned. Town goalkeeper Azir Harvey was called into action shortly after when he pushed Diondre Dowling’s long-range free kick over the top for a corner.

It took a brilliant goalline clearance to prevent Keishon Bean’s backward header from scoring before Jahiem Iris’s piledriver from the resulting corner had Harvey diving full length to push around the post as PHC applied pressure.

Just before the interval, PHC’s Enrique Russell controlled the ball on his chest before turning and firing a low shot which missed the upright by inches and despite PHC’s dominance, the teams went into the break scoreless.

Soon after the restart PHC goalkeeper Hunt was forced off with a foot injury and was replaced by substitute custodian Shaquille Trott, but it did not seem to affect their side who took the lead on a quick counter-attack.

Winning the ball from a Town free-kick, a long clearance from Dowling had his forwards zoning in on the Town goalkeeper who sliced his attempted kick. The ball eventually fell to Russell, whose slick backheel found Bean and the he diminutive midfielder kept his composure to slot the ball past the advancing Harvey.

Town found an equaliser just after the hour mark when Nizigh Spence’s free kick from the top of the box ricocheted off the upright and into the net giving substitute goalkeeper Trott no chance.

Minutes later, Harvey showed courage as he made a point-blank save at the feet of Russell to keep his team level but injured himself in the process .

Town had a golden opportunity to take the lead when a corner was headed back into the centre by Jahzardae Samuels but Azende Furbert could only skim the bar from close range. This miss proved costly as Town’s partial clearance found Abraham lurking at the top of the box to give the Zebras the lead.

With seconds remaining in the match former PHC player, Cecoy Robinson volleyed over from two yards out leaving the Town players and fans to hold their faces in their hands in disbelief as they were denied a point at the death.

SCORERS

Dandy Town: Spence 65

PHC: Bean 59, Abraham 77

TEAMS

PHC Zebras (4-2-3-1): Q Hunt 6 (sub: Shaquille Trott, 57min 5) —-D Usher 6, D Dowling 7, N Furbert 6, D Smith-Lightbourne 6 —- J Iris 6, J Ebbin 5 (sub: J Sealey, 77) —- T Showers 5, K Bean 7, K Abraham 7 —- E Russell 7. Substitutes not used: R Hassell, S Nisbett, J Douglas, Shakhai Trott, M Smith. Booked: E Russell, N Furbert.

Dandy Town Hornets (4-2-3-1): A Harvey 7 —- E Moore 6, Q Watson 6 (sub: T Manders, 80), M Issac 5 (sub: J Wilson-Butterfield, 88), E Outerbridge 5 —- N Spence 7, A Daniels 5 (sub: A Lewis, 67 5) —- C Robinson 6, T Goater 6, A Furbert 5—- J Samuels 6. Substitutes not used: K Brangman, A Simmons, J Bailey, T Smith. Booked: Q Watson.

Referee: A Francis