Hamilton Parish 0 Devonshire Colts 2

Goals from Daniel Ball and Chemarl Henry either side of the break powered Devonshire Colts to victory over a depleted Hamilton Parish in a wind-affected Premier Division match at Wellington Oval on Sunday.

Midfielder Ball broke the deadlock in the 44th minute before experienced striker Henry put the game beyond Parish’s reach in added time at the end of the second half as Colts leapfrogged champions PHC to go third in the Premier Division, three points adrift of leaders Dandy Town.

Colts head coach Ray Jones was pleased with victory but felt the performance was not one of his team’s best.

“I’m happy with the points, which gives us some distance to the teams that are behind us but also allows us to stay in contact with the teams in front,” Jones told The Royal Gazette.

“But to be honest, I wasn’t pleased with the performance and overall it was definitely unacceptable. Some people might blame the conditions but I don’t. I just think our ability to really take control of the game lacked today.”

Jones cut a frustrating figure on the sideline as his team squandered good opportunities to allow a determined Parish side to stay in the hunt before Henry pounced late to finally extinguish their hopes of salvaging something from a scrappy match

Parish, who were missing several key members and showed up with only eleven players, also wasted chances.

“We could have won that game with the chances we had,” Parish coach Sergio Goater said.

“But kudos to Colts. They stuck with it and if you put in the work you get the reward. If we do not put in the work we are not going to reap the rewards. They put in the work, so they are going to get blessed with that, which is how it goes.”

Relegation-threatened Parish remain ninth in the standings, three points adrift of safety.

Parish created the first chance of the match with Colts goalkeeper Jaden Mills-Furbert doing well to keep out striker Leroy Lewis’s shot from a tight angle inside the area.

Colts responded with Henry pushing a shot wide with only Parish custodian Nigel Burgess to contend with, but both teams struggled to cope with the blustery conditions and were guilty of making errors and conceding possession cheaply.

Parish’s best chances of the game materialised towards the end of the first half with midfielder Aidan Peets finding himself in one-on-one situations with Mills-Furbert. Peets first had a firm effort saved and then fired wide after again getting on the end of a diagonal ball that caught the Colts defence flat-footed.

The home side were made to rue those missed opportunities when Ball finally made the breakthrough in the 44th minute after a fluent counter-attack. Fellow midfielder San-Tze Burgess’s precision cross was met by the thunderous right boot of Ball, who lashed his shot past Burgess without breaking stride.

Colts continued to create chances after the restart with midfielder Brandon O’Connor firing over the bar after intercepting a pass from Parish counterpart Samuel McKittrick and team-mate Jorj Dublin bringing a fine reflex save from the evergreen Burgess.

Parish threw numbers forward in search of an equaliser but their efforts ultimately fell in vain as Henry rifled a shot into the top right corner from just outside of the area right on the final whistle after Parish were caught in possession deep in their own half.

It proved a busy afternoon for referee Amaury Majors, who dished out seven yellow cards, including five to Colts players.

SCORERS

Devonshire Colts: Ball 44, Henry 90+1

Hamilton Parish (4-2-3-1): N Burgess 7 – K Trott 5, Y Ibaraguen Ramirez 5, Z Burgess 5, K Knights 5 – A Nelson 7, S McKittrick 5 – G Burgess 5, J Bell 5, A Peets 5 – L Lewis 6. Booked: Trott, Z Burgess.

Devonshire Colts (4-2-3-1): J Mills-Furbert 8 – D Davis 5, Z Simmons 6, J Dublin 6, J Paynter 5 – S Burgess 5, J Burgess 5 – D Ball 7 (sub: R Urquhart, 75min 7), T Eve 5 (sub: S Blair-Paynter, 78), B O'Connor 7 (sub: S Robinson, 60 5) – C Henry 5. Substitutes not used: C Berkeley, I Naylor, J Saunders, A Smith. Booked: Burgess, Henry, O’Connor, Simmons, Blair-Paynter.

Referee: A Majors.