Hotels continued their meteoric rise, zooming to the head of the First Division on the tails of a 2-0 victory against Hamilton Parish at Southampton Oval yesterday.

Veteran workhorse Coolridge (Bumla) Bell and substitute Don Lewis scored within minutes of each other late in the second half to seal the result for the home side and keep alive a three-game win streak.

However, the margin of victory was not indicative of the closeness of the match as Parish fully deserved at least a share of the points.

The match produced little in terms of action and the limited number of spectators did well to maintain an upright position for the duration.

The first half was particularly sparse with both teams resorting to the kick-and-run style of play without success.

An indication of the course the match would take came when Ernest Lathan made a mess of a clear scoring chance in the sixth minute. Lathan did well to strip Hotels' goalkeeper Randy Darrell of possession inside the penalty area but with an empty goal staring him in the face, he fired into the side netting.

Parish's livewire winger Irving Burgess next tested Hotels' defence with two long-range efforts.

First in the 15th minute he ran onto a through-ball by Phillion Webb and sent a vicious shot inches wide. And moments later he was able to let loose from 18 yards out only to have Darrell gather cleanly diving to his left.

In between, Ricky Hill of Hotels set up a chance for Clifton Anderson to unleash a right-foot shot that a well-positioned George Fox kept from crossing the line.

After a drab opening period one might have thought things could not get much worse. But until the late flurry by Hotels, play disintegrated still further as neither side showed much snap.

Parish front-runners Webb, Burgess and Lathan were clearly frustrated by their inability to penetrate their opponents' back four. This was indicated as a near melee broke out over a foul by Derek Scott on Parish's John Nicholl.

While the visitors' spirit appeared to dwindle their opposite numbers displayed their experience and continued plugging away until finally Parish cracked.

Fox took a back-pass by Kacy Simons and not being able to handle attempted to release a pass to full-back Sinclair Gibbons. To his chagrin, he bungled the attempt instead handing the ball to Bell six yards out and he graciously accepted the gift, drilling the ball home.

Almost doubling the lead nine minutes later was Bell as he popped up again inside the area only to be denied by a fine reflex save by Fox.

Nevertheless, the issue was decided two minutes from time as Lewis, a late replacement for Anderson, headed in a right-wing cross by Chris Sabir who had worked tirelessly throughout in midfield.

Hotels: R.Darrell; D.Bell, P.Smith, F.Greaves, D.Scott; C.Bell, M.Piper, C.Sabir; C.Anderson (D.Lewis, 72 mins), R.Hill, E.Simmons.

Hamilton Parish: G.Fox; T.Burgess, I.Frith, J.Nicholl, S.Gibbons; Q.Outerbridge, K.Simons, C.Caisey; E.Latham, P.Webb, I.Burgess.

Referee: Cal Simons.

Men of the match: Myron Piper (Hotels); John Nicholl (Hamilton Parish).