Young Men’s Social Club 1 Paget 4

The relegation race will be settled on the final day of the league season after Young Men’s Social Club were ruthlessly dispatched by Paget Lions at Devonshire Recreation Club on Tuesday night.

The Bluebirds, who could have avoided the drop with a point in the rescheduled fixture, now face relegated Hamilton Parish on Sunday looking to book their 2025-26 ticket in the Premier Division at Police Field, where North Village clinched the title last weekend.

Any hope that Mike Smith’s team had of taking care of business with a match to spare — just as Village did against Devonshire Colts — was distinguished early on as Paget smashed four goals in the first half through in-form captain Diaje Hart, Daniel Cook (two) and Omari Tucker.

Pierre Smith scored the goal for Social Club, who will believe all the cards remain in their favour, thanks to a vastly superior goal difference over fellow strugglers Wolves going into the final round.

The Devonshire outfit not only need Social Club to lose to a demotivated Parish side, but a stone’s throw away at Devonshire Rec, they must beat FA Cup finalists Devonshire Cougars and hope to overturn a seven-goal deficit in the process.

But Vince Minors Jr, the Wolves vice-president and former player, remains optimistic his club can avoid making an immediate return to the second tier.

“There’s still a chance and we just have to look forward to this last game,” Minors told The Royal Gazette. “Hopefully, Social Club lose by a significant amount and just give it our all in our last game against Cougars.

“We have been very unfortunate not to have come away with more points. Things just seemed to go against us this season.”

Parish, who had high hopes after winning the mid-season Dudley Eve Trophy, dipped in the second half of the campaign and were relegated last weekend after losing 5-2 to St George’s Colts.