Dandy Town 3 Hamilton Parish 1

Dandy Town stayed in the title chase after two goals in the last ten minutes helped them to overcome a stubborn Hamilton Parish at Goose Gosling Field on Saturday night.

Parish showed up to the match with no substitutes but gave the Hornets a tough game and Town coach Kyle Lightbourne was happy to come away with the points as his side stay in contention for league honours.

“We controlled the game but were not clinical in the final third,” Lightbourne said.

“Although we dominated play in the first 20 minutes, we hadn’t tested their goalkeeper. Overall, I am happy with the three points as it keeps us in contention but we still have work to do.”

Town took the game to their opponents from the opening whistle and they threatened early when Jahkari Furbert darted inside from the right to hit a firm drive from 25 yards which flew over the crossbar by inches.

At the other end, Leroy Lewis was given space to dribble through but fired weakly at Town goalkeeper Toran Place. Town dominated the opening half with Parish continuously on the defence but, despite being outplayed, it was Parish who scored the opening goal.

Philip Burgess forced Town goalkeeper Place to make a fingertip save as he pushed his firm strike over the top. The resulting corner was played to Lewis who was brought down in the box by Angelo Simmons. Justin Bell sent Place the wrong way with his spot-kick.

Town equalised on the stroke of half-time with Simmons redeeming himself. After finding space to dribble through, the forward was needlessly brought down inside the box by Burgess as he was going away from goal. Town captain Tomiko Goater sent the Parish goalkeeper the wrong way with a firm drive.

Town carried their momentum into the second half and Parish were content to drop deep behind the ball to defend in numbers. But Town’s persistence paid off when Nizigh Spence flicked Furbert’s low-driven free kick in at the near post in the 81st minute.

With time ticking down, Goater scored his second penalty after substitute Tavez Smith was brought down in the box as he headed for goal. With the win, Dandy Town move within two points of leaders North Village, who play on Sunday afternoon. Parish stay deep in the relegation zone with only four matches remaining.

SCORERS

Dandy Town: Goater 45 pen, 88 pen, Spence 81

Hamilton Parish: Bell 27 pen

TEAMS

Dandy Town (3-5-1-1): Place 6 — E Blankendal 6, D Leverock 6, M Isaac 5 (sub: E Outerbridge, 70min 5) — J Furbert 6, J Samuels 6, A Lewis 6 (sub: D Ming, 81), T Goater 7, N Spence 6 — A Simmons 6 (sub: T Smith, 81) — D Jones 5. Substitutes not used: A Harvey, E Moore. Booked: Samuels, Jones.

Hamilton Parish (4-2-3-1): N Burgess 6 — J Burgess 6, Y Ramirez 6, Z Burgess 6, K Knights 6 — J Bell 7, G Burgess 6 — L Lewis 7, M Walker 6, K Trott 6 — P Burgess 6.

Referee: A Francis.