Devonshire Colts 7 Vasco da Gama 1

Devonshire Colts winger Keino Burch made amends for couple of early misses to score a hat-trick as Devonshire Colts ran out emphatic winners of a lopsided FA Cup preliminary-round contest at Police Field on Sunday.

The 20-year-old failed to capitalise twice when it seemed easy to score but made amends with a hat-trick inside 18 minutes to take his haul for the season to five goals in three appearances.

“It really felt good to get a hat-trick,” Burch told The Royal Gazette. “This is actually my second hat-trick in the past two seasons but my first in the FA Cup.

“Early In the first half I had a couple of good chances and I missed them, so after coach Ray Jones got on to me about those chances, I took accountability, put my head down and worked harder to get the other goals.”

Colts went straight for the jugular and took only two minutes to break the deadlock when midfielder Robert Urquhart tapped in an inviting pass from the right side of the area and they continued to dominate, only being denied adding to their tally by some wasteful finishing.

Vasco turned the game on its head in the 13th minute when player/coach Leo Burgess gained possession deep in the opposition half and held off two defenders before steering the ball into the bottom corner to bring the teams level against the run of play.

Colts continued to waste good opportunities before Burch restored their lead. The forward received a pass from midfield and did well to evade a challenge on the edge of the area before firing past Vasco goalkeeper Kamran Harvey.

Things then went from bad to worse for Vasco when defender Khari Place miskicked an attempted clearance in the box and Colts striker Sage Blair-Paynter dispatched the loose ball past Harvey to effectively end the match as a contest.

Burch then made it 4-1 after exchanging passes with fellow winger Chemarl Henry in the box and dinking the ball past the goalkeeper just before the interval and he completed his hat-trick shortly after the restart, this time controlling Henry’s pass on the left side of the box and squeezing an angled shot inside Harvey’s near post.

Henry went from provider to scorer when he converted Colts’ sixth goal in the 63rd minute from the penalty spot after being brought down in the area by defender Jonah Trott and his side were awarded another penalty in the 71st minute when Harvey fouled substitute Rajae Whitter in the area. Henry again converted after sending the goalkeeper the wrong way for the second time in the match.

Colts coach and former player Jones was happy to see his team advance to the next round of the prestigious competition.

“Then main thing in cup competition is advancement,” he said.

“That was the motto before the game, to make sure our name is in the hat for the next round.

“I thought in phases the performance was good and once the score got run up it was difficult for them to keep their focus and as a young team that can happen from time to time, but I’m overall happy to be in the next round.”

Scorers:

Devonshire Colts: Urquhart 2, Burch 30, 44, 48, Blair-Paynter 37, Henry 63 pen, 71 pen

Vasco da Gama: Burgess 13