Hamilton Parish 4 X-Roads 1

Promoted club Hamilton Parish scored two goals in each half to romp to victory in their first game back in the Premier Division on Sunday.

Four individual scorers secured all three points to give coach Sergio Goater his first victory of the season.

“It’s good to get the three points on the board as it is a platform for us. As coach, I felt that we made the game hard for ourselves at times by giving away silly possession but we scored four goals, so that gives us something to build on,” Goater said.

The game started evenly with both teams feeling the other out but Parish started to dominate possession despite making no real threat on the opposition goal.

But it was Donovan Thompson for X-Roads who had the first meaningful effort only to watch as his blast went over the top after he had been well found from a free kick.

It was Parish who would open the scoring midway through the first half when Zuri Burgess ran on to a blind pass to sidestep Warriors goalkeeper Q’Shai Darrell before slotting into the empty net.

Parish continued to create chances but it would be the Warriors who would score next against the run of play.

A long throw-in found its way to Thompson who kept his composure to pick his spot and sidefoot past a stranded Julian Roser in the Parish goal.

The Warriors’ celebrations were to be short-lived as Parish regained the lead almost immediately from the restart.

Macquille Walker made a darting run down the middle of the park and had his initial shot saved by a diving Darrell but the Parish player was bundled over as he went for the rebound to give referee Martin Wyer the easy task of awarding a penalty.

Darrell did well to stop the shot, diving low to his left but Shane Hollis followed up to slam the ball into the roof of the net to give Parish a deserved lead heading into the half-time break.

X-Roads started the second half with more intensity and dominated the opening minutes with sub Ajai Daniels and Tyman Daniels instrumental in trying to build attacks from the back but they lacked that final pass to penetrate the Parish defence marshalled by captain Mauriq Hill and Quinn Outerbridge.

But X-Roads had only themselves to blame for their next conceded goal as during one patient bit of play, Daniel Baker made a backpass directly to his opposite striker who played a give and go with Jordan Outerbridge which drew Darrell to the near post and he slotted into the net to extend Parish’s lead.

Aaron Nelson would complete the scoring after running onto a long diagonal ball before dribbling past the last defender and hitting a firm,low drive beyond the goalkeeper’s reach to secure the points.

SCORERS

X-Road Warriors 1

D Thompson 32

Hamilton Parish Hot Peppers 4

Z Burgess 23, S Hollis 34 pen, M Walker 53, A Nelson 84

TEAMS

X-ROAD WARRIORS (4-2-3-1): Q Darrell 6 --- T Lowe 5, J Furbert 5, D Teleman (sub: D Woolridge, 64min 6), D Baker 5--- T Daniels 6, D Simons 5 (sub: A Wilson, 81) --- K Brangman 5 (sub: A Daniels, 46 6), C Brangman 6 (sub: S Dill, 81), J Lottimore 5 --- D Thompson 7. Substitutes not used: J Morgan, R Simmons.

HAMILTON PARISH (4-2-3-1): J Roser 6 --- C Castle 5 (sub: M Turner, 70), M Hill 6, Q Outerbridge 6, J Bean 5 --- Z Burgess 7 (sub: S McKittrick, 77), A Nelson 7 --- K Knights 6 (sub: S Albuoy, 68 5), S Hollis 6 (sub: K Richardson, 77), J Outerbridge 6 --- M Walker 7. Substitutes not used: P Tohill, K Wade. Booked: A Nelson, M Walker, S Albuoy.

Referee: M Wyer