A hat-trick from Daryl Phillips steered former winners Faithfold A into the fourth round of the Peter Morrison Trophy as they overcame a gritty Holy Mount Zion.

The Premier Division side were on top throughout the first half with Paul Babai and Benjy Dymant dominating in midfield and wingers Lorian Madanes and Joe Cohen both looking extremely dangerous. However strong defending from the Division Three team kept Faithfold at bay.

The deadlock was finally broken after a period of concerted pressure. Good work on the right by
Joe Cohen saw him after beating a defender before driving a low cross across goal. Phillips beat his marker to the ball to slide home from close range.

HMZ started the second half the stronger. They caused a few nervy moments in the Faithfold defence, creating a number of chances but solid defending from Alex Kaye, Dan Howard, Paul Savitz and the exceptional James Frenner kept them at bay, and they were denied an equaliser by a great reflex save from keeper Ben Law.

It was from another HMZ attack that Faithfold scored their second. Phillips instigated a counter-attack, beating two defenders before sliding the ball to Cohen who delivery a precision cross to Madanes who laid the ball off for Babai to smash home.

Faithfold made it 3-0 minutes later when Phillips beat the offside trap and calmly stroked the ball into the net past the onrushing goal keeper,

Phillips then completed his hat-trick after good work from Howard who beat three men and found Johnny Haik who crossed for Phillips for a simple tap-in.

Babai claimed a well-deserved second following good work from Alex Levack on the right.

Haik completed the rout after good work from Phillips ,Babai and Levack whos delicious ball found Haik at the far post to chest and volley home.

Daryl Phillips, Faithfold assistant player-manager told JC Sport: “It was not an easy game to today. The pitch was boggy and with quite a strong wing it wasn’t easy to play football.

"We knew we would be in for a battle, and we had to earn the right to play.

"HMZ put up a good fight for 60 minutes and it was a close game up until then.

"It was a good team performance by my team and we look forward to the next round of the PMT."