Hamilton Parish 1 Paget 4

Paget Lions roared back from a defeat against PHC in their opening Premier Division game with a dominant performance to secure their first league win against an understrength Hamilton Parish, who have now lost their first two matches of the new season.

Missing players through suspension and injury, Parish failed to field a full bench for the second consecutive game and had only a late consolation goal from Justin Bell to show for their efforts following Paget goals from captain Diage Hart (two), Tristen Davis and substitute Delray Rawlins.

The victory was welcomed by Paget coach Antwan Russell, who is hoping for a good start to the season.

“We had to get three points today, plain and simple,” Russell said.

“It was good to bounce back from our opening loss. Points are going to be hard to get in the second half off the season, so I’m glad we are getting ours now.”

Paget were gifted an early goal when they capitalised on a failed Parish clearance with Tristen Davis driving the ball home beyond goalkeeper Nigel Burgess and they should have doubled their lead within minutes when overlapping full back Nelson Carpenter’s cross found Hart but he would shoot tamely at Burgess.

Parish should have equalised from the resulting kick out but Bell’s firm drive could only hit the upright before bouncing back into play.

Approaching the half-hour, Carpenter turned full back Jordan Outerbridge, who then fouled him to leave Trinidadian referee Timothy Derry the easy task of awarding a penalty. Hart planted his spot kick into the bottom left corner to double Paget’s lead.

A few minutes later, Outerbridge nearly redeemed himself but his well-taken free kick grazed the crossbar.

Parish looked more organised at the start of the second half and should have pulled a goal back with Outerbridge, Bell and Leroy Lewis all getting off goalbound shots that were denied by a determined Paget defence throwing bodies at the ball to block every attempt.

Hart scored his second, and the team’s third, when a long ball forward put substitute Kushae Hypolite through one-on-one with Burgess, who blocked the initial shot only for the captain to follow up and drive the rebound into the net despite an effort from a recovering defender.

Midway through the half, striker Gianni Burgess’s glancing header from a corner was deflected towards goal but was cleared off the line by Carpenter with Paget goalkeeper Jade Morrissey wrong-footed.

Substitute Rawlins scored his team’s fourth when he was put through before holding off his marker to sidestep Burgess and tap into an empty net.

With time running out, Parish scored a consolation goal when Bell followed up after putting Burgess through to score the rebound, which went in off the upright.

Scorers:

Hamilton Parish: Bell 90 +1

Paget Lions: Davis 5, Hart 36 pen, 63, Rawlins 84

TEAMS

Hamilton Parish (4-2-3-1): N Burgess 6 — K Knight 5, K Wade 5, M Hill 5 (sub: K Trott, 78min), J Outerbridge 6 — A Nelson 5, N Brockington 5 — L Lewis 6, S Hollis 6, J Bell 7 — G Burgess 6. Booked: Hill, Bell.

Paget Lions (4-4-2): J Morrissey 6 — K Simons 6 (sub: J Tucker, 70 5), R DeShields 6, J Carpenter 6, K Durrant 6 —- N Carpenter 7, T Davis 6, D Hart 8 (sub: A Grant, 70 5), D Cook 6 — D Swan 5 (sub: K Hypolite, 57 7), O Tucker 5 (sub: D Rawlins, 57 7).

Referee: Timothy Derry (Trinidad)