Hamilton Parish 2 Robin Hood 0

Some clinical finishing by Jordan Outerbridge was enough to see Hamilton Parish past ten-man Robin Hood in wet and windy conditions at Wellington Oval on Saturday afternoon.

Hood created the better opportunities in an otherwise scrappy first half with their best chance coming as a result of Barry Tysen-Gooden knocking a long ball to Dwayne Brangman, whose effort forced a save by Paul Tohill at his near post. Parish’s best opening fell to Korin Knights, who was found in space by Samuel McKittrick, but the winger’s effort was foiled by a brilliant reflex save from Hood goalkeeper Detroy Smith.

Parish sped up the tempo of their passing and finally opened the scoring five minutes into the second half, after a free kick was poorly cleared by the Hood defence, and Outerbridge steadied his feet before firing a low driven effort past Smith.

Once they took the lead, they compounded their dominance from another set-piece. This time, a corner by Knights was flicked on by Macquille Walker, and Outerbridge side-footed a volley into the bottom corner past Smith to double Parish’s advantage.

Parish dominated the final half-hour, controlling possession and creating further chances to score. The pick of those came when Ethan Furbert picked out Walker, but the striker failed to control his finish. Hood tired in the final fifteen minutes and remained dangerous on the counter attack.

Despite the victory, Parish head coach Sergio Goater spoke about the importance of proper preparation. “We need to be better prepared for every scenario,” Goater said.

“The performance against ten men wasn’t good enough, but we still got the win, and that is all that matters.”

Hood assistant coach Detroy Smith was pleased with their determination, despite missing several chances to kill the game in the first half.

“We showed a lot of courage,” Smith said. “We should have been out of sight in the first half, but we did well to get behind the ball.”

Smith explained Hood’s lack of availability for this match. “We had to play short today,” he said. “This is as a result of a minor accident, which forced a few players to make themselves unavailable.”

SCORERS

Hamilton Parish: Outerbridge 50, 59

TEAMS

Hamilton Parish (4-2-3-1): P Tohill 6 – K Wade 5, M Turner 6, Q Outerbridge 6, C Castle 6 (sub: J Steede, 88) – S McKittrick 6 (sub: J Outerbridge, 46 7), Z Burgess 5 – K Knights 6 (sub: E Furbert, 67 5), S Hollis 5, A Nelson 6 – M Walker 5 (sub: C Lindo, 88). Substitutes not used: N Burgess, J Small.

Robin Hood (4-2-3): D Smith 7 – N Massa 6, L Fulton 5, S Madeiros 5, D Simmons 5 – L Evans 6, W Brayan Machuca Noriega 6 – R Smith 5, B Tyson-Gooden 5, D Brangman 5

Referee: A Francis