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Blazers bundled out in Cup shock

By Josh Ball

Prospect United 3

Boulevard 1

Shaki Swan scored twice, Deforest Evans got another and ten-man Prospect produced the shock of the round as they dumped Boulevard out of the FA Cup yesterday.

Like any good cup shock the game had all the essential ingredients, heroic defending, red cards, some terrible luck in front of goal and the usual mistakes that are normally at the heart of any defeat such as this.

Struggling in the First Division, Prospect were given little chance of winning even against a Boulevard team who are having troubles of their own.

Such was the Premier Division team’s confidence that they felt able to leave Michael Parsons, Niko Smith and Takeyhi Walker on the bench. However, by the time any of them eventually entered the fray, the game was as good as over.

The First Division club, though, fully deserved a victory that was built on the back of a heroic second half defensive effort, which was all the more impressive for being produced without central defender Najee Woods.

Woods was sent off in the dying moments of a dramatic first-half for picking up his second booking, although in truth he was probably lucky not to have been shown a straight red after he threw an elbow at Boulevard striker Temeiko Wilson 20 minutes earlier which earnt him his first yellow card.

By that time Prospect were already two goals to the good, both courtesy of Shaki Swan and both of which came from some horrendous defending.

Without the calming influence of Ajani Gibbons, Boulevard’s back four struggled to do even the basics well and while Swan and strike partner Kenneth DeSilva aren’t the most lethal combination on the Island, they were too good for the likes of Jahleel Crockwell, Arron Foggo, and Arron Nelson.

Swan’s first came when a through ball caught the defence cold and the second was the result of a mix-up between Foggo and goalkeeper Devario Whitter, which saw Whitter fire the ball into Nelson’s shins and straight to the unmarked Swan.

Blazers had plenty of chances to get back into the game and Wilson spurned two of them when he scuffed a shot when clean through, before heading over the bar from a corner.

The Premier Division side paid the price for those misses and another piece of awful defending saw them fall further behind. Crockwell’s attempted clearance fell at the feet of Evans and the big defender ran unopposed into the area before firing the ball past Whitter.

Moments later Woods was sent off and Prospect were lucky to not then concede a penalty from the resulting free-kick when Max Hall appeared to upend Nelson Smith in the penalty area.

It was one-way traffic in the second half, but Blazers, who spent the break arguing amongst themselves, could find no way past Evans, Quennel Robinson, or the rest of the Prospect team.

After bringing on Niko Smith at half-time, Parsons and Walker followed with 30 minutes still to play but it did little to change the flow of the game. By that time Boulevard were too disjointed, too far behind, and didn’t believe they could get back into the match.

While a penalty, which Reiko Trott converted, gave Boulevard some hope, the momentum was firmly with their opponents, and despite being dead on their feet, the blocks still kept coming. Kentoine Jennings wouldn’t be beaten in goal and what little luck Boulevard had left finally deserted them when Parsons’ header came back off the underside of the bar and was cleared.

Still the four minutes of injury time might have been more nerve-wracking had Wilson made the most of a chance in the final minute of normal time, but he was denied by a fine double-save from Jennings.

Prospect United: K Jennings, Q Robinson, N Woods, J Darrell, B Harris, D Evans, M Hall (A Jackson, 81), J Laws, S Wan, K Desilva (G Greaves, 61), J Belboda. Sub not used: R Bean. Booked Jennings, Robinson, Woods. Sent off Woods

Goals: Swan 6, 15, Evans 39.

Boulevard: D Whitter, A Foggo, A Nelson, J Crockwell (T Walker, 61), R Trott, K Lathan (M Parsons, 62), J Davis, A Simmons, Nelson Smith, T Stovell (Niko Smith, 46), T Wilson. Subs not used: K Easton, D Simons, D Butler. Booked Niko Smith. Sent off Niko Smith.

Goal: Trott 67.

Referee: C Richardson

Man of the match: Evans

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Prospect 0 PHC 1

By Stephen Wright

PHC striker Lloyd Holder jumped off the bench to save his team’s blushes against First Division Prospect with a late winner in yesterday’s FA Cup quarterfinal at Police Field.

The tie appeared to be heading for a replay before Holder launched himself at Idrees Sharieff’s cross to head the ball past Prospect goalkeeper Kentione Jennings just minutes before full time.

Prospect’s players vehemently protested to no avail that Holder’s goal should have been dissallowed after the assistant referee had briefly raised her flag for offside.

Rather than dwell on the controversial manner of PHC’s winner Prospect player-coach Kentoine Jennings bemoaned his defenders lack of concentration.

“The assistant ref put her flag and that caused our defenders to hesitate,” said the former North Village defender. “We thought she had ruled the goal offside but at the end of the day it’s our own fault for not playing to the whistle.”

Jennings, 39, produced another man of the match display for Prospect pulling off several superb saves to frustrate PHC’s shot-shy strikers. The ex-Bermuda international had been his team’s saviour in the previous round when they caused an upset by beating Boulevard, and yesterday he admitted to relishing his FA Cup run between the sticks for Prospect.

“I’ve had my time and I’m just playing because the players asked me to go in goal,” said the former Hereford United professional. “I’m just giving a bit back but I admit I’ve had some fun in goal and I enjoyed today’s game despite the defeat.”

In the first period Jennings made a number of saves, twice denying Quinton Burgess in one-on-ones while saving his best stop of the half until just before the interval when he flung himself low his right to tip Chris Furbert’s long range effort around the post.

After the break the visitors continued to create the better chances with Sharieff going close with a volley which was once again beaten away by Jennings. At the other end Prospect crafted a few openings of their own with sub Micah Young forcing a fumble from PHC keeper Raymond Glasford while Talif Caisey fired a shot over the bar from the edge of the box a chance he should probably done better with.

Jennings said he was proud of his team’s efforts and believed they had given a good account of themselves against the Premier Division powerhouse Zebras.

“I can’t fault my players today, I though we played very well and I’m proud of their performance,” he said. “In the FA Cup anything can happen and on another day we could have got the result.”

Prospect: K Jennings, Q Robinson, N Woods, W Reid, B Harris, D Evans, J Hunt, J Laws, S Swan (M Young 75), T Caisey, Q Francis

Subs not used: J Belboda, D Joell, R Bean

Yellow card: Reid

PHC: R Glasford, J Ball, C Dowling, O Shakir, M Lambe, B Bean, C Furbert, Cofield Robinson (J Franklin, 85) A Grant (Cecoy Robinson, 72), L. Holder, 77), I Sharieff, Q Burgess

Subs not used: D. Baxter, K Lightbourne, J Sealey

Goal: Holder, 88

Yellow cards: Cofield Robinson, Cecoy Robinson

Referee: S Allen

Man of the match: Jennings (Prospect)

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Prospect earn cup spot after shoot-out

By Derek Dechabert

Prospect United 2 (5)

BAA 2 (4)

Prospect United striker Shaki Smith twice to help put his side into the first round of the FA Cup at the expense of BAA, winning 5-4 on penalties after the two sides were level after 120 minutes of play.

Smith struck in the 43rd and 45th minutes to give his team a comfortable lead but second-half strikes from Wille Clemens and Dantye Taylor levelled matters and sent the match into extra-time.

With no deciding goals in the additional 30 minutes, the dreaded penalty shoot-out was called upon to settle the game.

Smith scored his third of the match from the spot with ‘keeper Dennis Joell saving two penalties and scored himself to ultimately put the match to bed.

“It was a good match, we had control of the match in the first half and slacked off in the second half, something that has been our problem all season long but we are going through and that’s what matters,” said Smith.

“When you are winning and seemingly in control and comfortable with your position you get complacent and we did that today which allowed them back into the match.

“I’m pleased with my performance but the win for the team was the main priority. I told the guys that we needed to have a must-win attitude and get the win from scratch.

“We were able to get on top early and in the end we are moving on and that’s what is important.”

Prospect: D Joell, Q Robinson, R Bell, D Berkeley, M Smith(D Cifuentes,43,) B Harris(S Naranjo,74), J Hunt, T Caisey, M Young, K Desilva, S Smith

Subs not used: J Raynor, D Harvey, D Ricketts

Goals: Smith,43,45

BAA: K Bean, M Lowe, Edwin Dill, N Gibbons, A Bell, T Durham, W Clemens, R Rodchester, L Roberts(Z Robinson,71), I Simmons, D Taylor

Subs not used: R Simmons, Taj Grant, Micheal Roberts

Goals: Clemens,47, Taylor,74

Referee: M Wyer

Man of the Match: S Smith

In Saturday’s Premier League match, Robin Hood defeated Boulevard 1-0.

A  goal from Aaron Nelson proved the difference between the two teams

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Hornets thrash Prospect in seven-goal rout

By Derek Dechabert

Dandy Town 7

Prospect 0

Ten man Dandy Town made light work of Prospect United at St John’s Field yesterday to advance to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.

Braces from Damon Ming and Angelo Simmons and solo strikes from Dashun Butterfield, Raymond Beach and Lyn Tucker helped the side breeze through the match against their First Division opponents.

Defender Anthony Rocker was sent off in the 72nd for a second bookable offence.

It was the first time in three years that Town hadn’t faced Premier Division opponents in the first round of the Cup, which Ming believed had worked to his side’s advantage.

“We played very well as a team in the first half, got the goals and seemed to become complacent in the second, but in the end the are moving on with this result,” said Ming.

“It was good to have lesser opponent in the FA Cup, we usually get the bigger clubs in this competition but it’s a good result for us nonetheless.

Simmons got the ball rolling with his first in the 13th minute, finishing off a neat play down the flank, before Ming popped up nine minutes later to double the lead.

Town’s prolific striker Beach got his name on the scoresheet with one of his trademark finishes in 30th, and Ming grabbed his second seven minutes later.

Simmons scored his second in the 42nd minute, leaving Hornets coach Jomar Wilkinson the pleasure of bringing off the heavy artillery at the break and handing a few fringe players a chance to shine.

Substitutions at the interval, including Simmons and Beach, didn’t stop the onslaught, however, as Butterfield scored in the 50th, while Tucker ended the scoring with his well slotted effort.

It could have been worse for the visitors, who had plenty of fight until the end, but wasteful finishing and over thinking on the ball by Town players made sure the score didn’t hit double figures.

“We took our foot off the pedal in the second half and should have got more goals but given this is a one off game in a cup competition, we can take the positives and negatives out of the performance,” added Ming.

“We got the clean sheet and took our chances early which is always a good thing for any team.”

Dandy Town: T Gibbons, A Rocker, G Dyer, K Tucker, A Lowe, B Minors (H Wolfe, 75), S Darrell, L Tucker, D Ming, R Beach (D Butterfield, 45), A Simmons (A Zuill, 45)

Substitutes not used: D Chambers, D Zuill, W Place

Yellow cards: A Rocker

Red card: A Rocker

Goals: A Simmons, 13, 42, D Ming, 22,37, R Beach, 30, D Butterfield, 50, L Tucker, 65

Prospect: D Joell, D Berkeley, J Law, S Swan, Q Francis, A Matthews, T Scarlett (B Harris, 62), T Caisey (R Bell, 56), K Bennett, K Saltus (M Young, 45)

Substitutes not used: J Hunt, K Desilva

Yellow cards: A Matthews

Referee: R Cann

Man of the Match: S Darrell (Hornets)

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X Roads 2 Prospect 1

X Roads put the handcuffs on Prospect yesterday at Garrison Field to maintain top spot in the First Division standings.

But first the East Enders had to come from behind to erase Brendon Harris’ first-half strike before netting twice in the space of seven minutes to keep their unbeaten overall and home record intact.

The visitors, also beaten by the odd goal in their season-opener against Somerset Eagles, appeared to have lady luck on their side and seemingly destined for better fortunes when Harris’ wind-assisted corner kick curled into goal minutes prior to the half.

However, X Roads finally shifted out of first gear and equalised through an unmarked Devon Rogers who made no mistake from close range.

Alfred Wolfe then settled the issue from the penalty spot seven minutes from time to assure X Roads remained perched atop the tables for another week.