PHC Zebras 3 North Village 0

Holders PHC Zebras advanced to a second straight Friendship Trophy final and record 21st on the back of a dominant and brilliant display against a lacklustre North Village at the Den last night.

Striker Enrique Russell broke the deadlock with a sublime finish to earn Zebras a 1-0 advantage at the break before additional tallies from T’ysi Showers and substitute Joshua Joseph put the match far beyond the reach of their opponents, who were simply overpowered and outclassed on the night.

“I am so proud of these guys, they just keep fighting every day,” Zebras coach Quincy Hunt told The Royal Gazette.

“It was a great team performance. We managed the game well and did everything we are supposed to in football.”

Hunt also hailed his team’s clinical finishing.

“They were world-class goals,” he added. “We do a lot of finishing in training and those guys are good players anyway, so that’s what we expect from them.

“When they get the chance they have to take them and they took them tonight.”

Zebras will now face perennial rivals Somerset Trojans in the final at Wellington Oval on New Year’s Day.

Hunt’s team have added incentive as they seek to defend their title in honour and memory of late captain Marco Warren.

“We just want to defend our Friendship trophy title,” he said.

“This is our first trophy that Marco won as captain, so we are just trying to honour him in the best way we can trying to win that for him.”

Russell gave Zebras the lead for good when he caught Village custodian Detre Bell slightly off his line and drilled a ferocious 30-yard shot in off the far post.

The game opened up towards the end of half with Village’s Jordan Outerbridge, Troy Tucker and Jaizel Smith-DeShields, all testing PHC goalkeeper Quinaceo Hunt, who was equal to the task.

Zebras also threatened to increase their lead with Village surviving a goalmouth scramble after Showers’s initial shot was partially cleared away.

Showers also got in behind the defence on another promising raid, but overhit his cross with plenty of team-mates in the goalmouth.

However, the player made amends with a brilliant solo effort to double his team’s advantage near the hour mark.

Showers gained possession deep inside Village’s half and dribbled past three defenders before beating Bell with a neat finish at the near post.

By now Zebras were in full control having neutralised Village’s midfield and poked gaping holes in the defence to give their forwards good looks at goal.

With the game all but won, substitute Joseph put the proverbial icing on the cake with another brilliant solo effort.

The forward cleverly flicked the ball around his marker and dribbled into the area before planting a right-footed shot into the top right-hand corner.

Village nearly pulled one back in the closing minutes. However, Zebras captain Daren Usher cleared a header from Jalen Harvey off the line to preserve the clean sheet.

Village assistant coach DeVrae Tankard made no excuses for his team’s sub-par display.

“They didn’t stand up and be counted,” he lamented. “On the big occasions the big players have to rise to the occasion and that’s not what happened.

“In the 90th minute PHC were chasing aimless balls. They were first to all the second balls, first to the first balls and were a step ahead of us.

“We just didn’t match them for intensity and instead of settling down and playing football, we were just kicking the ball, which has never been Village’s game.”

SCORERS

PHC Zebras: Russell 21, Showers 59, Joseph 75

TEAMS

PHC Zebras (4-1-4-1): Q Hunt 7 – D Smith-Lightbourne, 7 J Bather 7, D Dowling 7, D Usher 7 – A Simons 7 – K Abraham 7, K Bean 6 (sub: J Joseph, 60min 7), J Iris 7 (sub: Z Lee, 73 6), T Showers 7 (sub: C McDowall, 80 6) – E Russell 7 (sub: R Hassell, 80 6). Substitutes not used: S Trott, J Sealey, D Lodge. Booked: Abraham.

North Village (3-5-2): D Bell 5 – T Fray 5, T Wilson 5, K Knights 5 – C Castle 5 (sub: T Williams, 60 5), J Harvey 5, T Ming 5, T Tucker 5, C Easton 5 (sub: P Smith, 80 5) — J Outerbridge 7 (sub: D Wainwright, 60 5), J Smith-DeShields 5. Substitutes not used: I Simmons, L Steede-Jackson, T Bell, A Dill. Booked: Tucker, Outerbridge.

Referee: O Hamilton (Jamaica).