Dandy Town 3 Hamilton Parish 1

Angelo Simmons, the Dandy Town winger, was the chief orchestrator of his side’s FA Cup quarter-final victory against Hamilton Parish at St John’s Field yesterday.

Not even the mud bath of a pitch could slow down Simmons who tormented Parish’s defence throughout, creating all three of his team’s goals with pinpoint crosses from the right wing.

Jomar Wilkinson, the Town coach, heaped praise on Simmons for his classy display and admitted he was relieved to have finally beaten bogey team Parish this season.

“Angelo’s coming on at the right time of the season, the business end, and he’s doing the business for us,” said Wilkinson whose team have lost and drawn against Parish in the league this season.

“He’s definitely a quality player and has a lot of potential. He really showed his worth today and we’re thankful for it. It feels good to get this game out of the way. [Parish] have been our bogey team this season and are always a tough side to beat,”

Hornets, the Premier Division leaders, took an early lead when Simmons fired over a low cross that Damon Ming converted with a neat finish on seven minutes.

Parish found a leveller, though, on 37 minutes when Treadwell Gibbons Jr, the Town goalkeeper, made an error of judgement coming too far off his line for a ball that he failed to collect, gifting Donovan Thompson, the Parish striker, an easy finish.

The visiting side almost took a surprise lead on the stroke of half-time when Ian Coke, the diminutive Parish striker, tried his luck with a left foot snap shot which Gibbons did well to foil with an outstretched leg.

The rain continued to pour during the second half rendering some areas of the pitch almost unplayable, although Hornets still managed to create scoring chances largely through the inventive wide play of Simmons.

K’wonde Lathan went close for the home side soon after the restart with a diving header that drifted wide of post from Simmons’s cross from the right.

It was from another Simmons cross that Hornets regained the lead, a near carbon copy of the opening goal, when Jahmel Swan guided the ball past Nigel Burgess, the Parish goalkeeper, on 61 minutes.

Lorenzo Simmons, the Parish midfielder, blazed a shot over Gibbons’s bar before Simmons crafted Hornets’ third on 73 minutes with another dangerous cross which Tomiko Goater, who had just come on as a substitute, tapped home.

Wilkinson has challenged his team to maintain their current form as they chase a league and FA Cup double.

“Today we came with a game plan and we executed it well. I was quite impressed with how we played considering the conditions,” he added.

“We made some good decisions, we used the ball well and took care of the ball well. As long as we come with same mentality for the remaining matches then it looks promising for us.”