North Village 3

Hamilton Parish 0

North Village stepped up their title challenge with a convincing win over struggling Hamilton Parish at Bernard Park yesterday.

Village stormed to a two-goal lead with out-of-sorts talisman Ralph Bean rediscovering his goalscoring form with a fine brace before the interval.

A left-wing cross from Devrae Tankard picked out Bean for his opener with the former Bermuda Hogges striker finishing smartly, his second saw him fire home from close range following good work from Jemeiko Jennings and Sammy DeGraff.

The Rams continued to dominate after the break and extended their lead when a powerful header by Terryn Fray at the back post met substitute Vernon Tankard's cross.

The scoreline could have been even more emphatic with substitute Zaniko Hendrickson hitting the post and DeGraff somehow missing the target when baring down on goal.

Late on Hot Peppers' substitute Niedel Swan was shown a red card for dragging down Devrae Tankard just outside the visitor's box.

Village coach Shaun Goater said it was important his team kept the pressure on Premier Division leaders Dandy Town, and was glad to see Bean back in the goals.

"It was only a matter of time before Gumbo started scoring regular and now he has scored three in his last two games," Goater said.

"He has been playing well for us all season but the goals just have not been going in.

"No striker likes to go too long without scoring and having Gumbo back on form is good for us."

Goater believed his team were "finding their form" at the right time of the campaign and was pleased with the performances of some of his younger players like Jonathon Briers and Michael Armstrong.

"It was a good performance and we played well on a pitch made difficult because of the weather," Goater said.

"All we can do is keep winning our matches and let the rest take care of itself.

"I think we are finding our form at the right time of the season and we are playing with some consistency.

"I gave a few of our younger players a run out today and they did everything that was asked of them."

North Village: J.Williams, T.Watson, D.Tankard, S.Fubler, K.Dill, T.Fray (Z.Hendrickson, 74), J. Briers, S.DeGraff, J.Boyles (M.Armstrong, 77), J.Jennings (V.Tankard, 50), R.Bean

Substitutes not used: M.Swan, J.Sousa

Goals: Bean, 13, 25 Fray, 68

Yellow cards: J.Jennings

Hamilton Parish: N.Burgess, R.Richardson, C.Hansey, C.Davis, K.Cann, D.Simmons, R.Smith (N.Swan, 67), R.Trott, C.Caisey, A.Cannonier, D.Smith

Substitutes not used: R.Simmons, J.Lambert, R.Warner, O.Allen

Yellow cards: C.Caisey, R.Richardson

Red card: N.Swan

Referee: A.Reid

Man of the match: S.Fubler (North Village)