Dandy Town Hornets 1 Hamilton Parish 4

A second half hat-trick from Kion Knights spearheaded a second-half recovery from Hamilton Parish as they advanced into the Dudley Eve semi-finals last night.

Dandy Town dominated the opening periods and were nearly gifted an early goal when Parish goalkeeper Julian Roser miskicked captain Mauriq Hill’s back-pass, resulting in a foot chase with forward Cecoy Robinson, which the goalkeeper won.

It was no surprise when Town took a deserved lead as Chemari Henry took the last touch from a good build-up with his shot deceiving Roser, who mishandled before the ball crossed the line.

Roser did well to keep the deficit to one as he denied a Robinson drive with his foot before blocking Henry’s goalbound shot for a corner and Parish nearly equalised just before the half but Town goalkeeper Daniel Johnson did well to push Jordan Outerbridge’s inswinging free kick for a corner.

A stern half-time talk and tactical change in midfield from Parish coach Sergio Goater reaped immediate rewards when the Hot Peppers forced two corners in the opening minutes of the restart, with the second leading to their opening goal.

Another Outerbridge left-footed inswinger was fumbled by Johnson with Knights poking the loose ball home.

The momentum was now in Parish’s favour and they scored their second through Aaron Nelson, who played a diagonal ball wide to Knights before following up to place a firm header past Johnson at the near post.

Jomei Bean-Lindo thought he had equalised for Town but his 35-yard free kick rattled the crossbar before being cleared to safety.

Knights then put the game out of Town’s reach when he unleashed a spectacular drive from 20 yards which nestled in the top corner of the net giving Johnson no chance.

Knights then completed his hat-trick courtesy of a Town defensive mix-up. Khari Sharrieff-Hayward and Johnson left his tame goalbound shot for each other to clear but instead watched as the ball rolled into the corner of the net to see Parish through.

SCORERS

Dandy Town: Henry 25

Hamilton Parish: Knights 56, 70, 76, Nelson 60

TEAMS

Hamilton Parish (4-2-3-1): J Roser 7 — J Bean 6, M Hill 7, Q Outerbridge 7, M Turner 6 — Z Burgess 6, A Nelson 7 — J Outerbridge 7 (sub: C Castle, 82min), S Hollis 6 (sub: S McKittrick, 76), K Knights 8 — M Walker 6. Substitutes not used: D McKittrick, K Wade, S Albuoy, P Tohill, K Rickardson. Booked: Burgess, Knights.

Dandy Town (4-2-3-1): D Johnson 6 — K Sharrieff-Hayward 6, E Moore 5, T Webb 6, M Parsons 5 --- A Furbert 6, J Bean-Lindo 6 — C Henry 7 (sub: J Wilson-Butterfield, 82), N Spence 6 (sub: T Smith, 82), T Goater 6 — C Robinson 6 (sub: D Scraders, 82). Substitutes not used: T Manders, K Lathan, S Tatem. Booked: Bean-Lindo, Moore.

Referee: A Majors.