Hamilton Parish 2 Paget 1

The first Dudley Eve Trophy quarter-final was delayed by more than 30 minutes as ambulances were called to deal with injured players.

With Hamilton Parish captain Aaron Nelson already on the sidelines after sustaining a serious collarbone injury in a heavy challenge with Shakir Smith just inside his own defensive half, Paget midfielder Jaavaid Warren-Smith dislocated his shoulder when landing awkwardly after jumping to make a headed clearance.

Referee Anthony Francis called a halt to play in the 40th minute so that ambulances could attend and about 30 minutes passed with no action before the emergency vehicles arrived.

With another game set to take place at PHC Field immediately after, Francis chose to play just five more minutes of the first half rather than add the complete delay to allow the subsequent match to go ahead.

The teams went into half-time tied at 0-0, with both teams struggling to find the final pass or finish that some of their sweeping moves deserved.

Twitter

Despite losing Warren-Smith, an important part of their midfield, Paget started to grab some semblance of control after the restart and created a few half-chances with player-coach Antwan Russell and midfield star Diaje Hart at the centre of everything positive.

However, Parish continued to be dangerous on the counter-attack and it was they who found the breakthrough when Samaje Valasse-Paul found the overlapping Zuhri Burgess on the right flank, and he cut inside before being taken down by Joshua White, and Francis quickly pointed to the spot.

Burgess tried to place the resulting penalty into the corner, but goalkeeper Troy Hall guessed correctly and punched the ball away only for his defence to switch off and allow Burgess to square for an unmarked Justin Bell to tap in from close range.

Ten minutes later, the East End side doubled their lead when Valasse-Paul attempted a cross, which flew over the stranded Hall and dipped into the far corner.

Paget continued to huff and puff in search of a goal that would get them back into the match but their fightback came too late.

Russell fed substitute Padraic Castle, who in turn fed Hart to fire into the bottom corner in added time

Peppers held on for the win and head coach Sergio Goater was pleased with the effort, but admitted they made it difficult for themselves.

“It was a hard-fought win,” Goater said.

“We made it harder than it should have been, but it came at a cost with the injuries.”

GOALS

Hamilton Parish: Bell 53, Valasse-Paul 61

Paget Lions Hart 90+1

TEAMS

Hamilton Parish (4-2-3-1): N Burgess 6 – M Turner 5, Z Burgess 6, Q Outerbridge 6 (sub: K Wade, 63min 5), K Knights 6 – C Lindo 5, J Bean 6 – S Valasse-Paul 6 (sub: T Welch, 63, 6), A Nelson 5 (sub: S McKittrick, 26 6), L Lewis 5 – J Bell 6. Substitutes not used: R McKittrick, J Stowe. Booked: M Turner.

Paget Lions (4-1-4-1): T Hall 6 – K Simons 6, J Carpenter 6, A Russell 6, J White 5 (sub: P Castle, 60 5) – D Joell 6 (sub: E Calder, 60 5) – K Davis 6 (sub: K Hypolite, 60 5), Z Weller 6, J Warren-Smith 5 (sub: A Grant, 40 5), D Hart 6 – S Smith 5. Substitutes not used: O Deshields, J Tucker, M Wade. Booked: Carpenter, Hypolite

Referee: A Francis