St George’s Colts 2 Hamilton Parish 2 (aet; Parish win 4-3 on penalties)

The third Friendship Trophy quarter-final of the weekend was anything but friendly with four goals, 14 yellow cards, a sending-off, a penalty shootout and a goalkeeper involved in an altercation with a fan after the final whistle.

After all the excitement it was Hamilton Parish who made it through to the semi-finals thanks to two penalty saves by veteran goalkeeper Nigel Burgess, with his coach Sergio Goater giivng accolades to his team for the final outcome.

“This was a tough match, like a derby”, Goater said.

“We played with passion and desire. We never gave up and showed how greatly we want to win this competition.”

Parish were the first team to adapt to the windy conditions and dominated the opening minutes by playing some composed passes through the midfield and they took a deserved lead when Kion Knights’s long throw into the box was miscontrolled, allowing Macquille Walker to sneak behind the defence and slot the ball under the advancing St George’s Colts goalkeeper Jahquil Hill.

Burgess almost gifted St. George’s an equaliser when his partial clearance was blocked by the onrushing Paul Simons just outside the six-yard box but a recovering defender was able to clear the loose ball to safety as Parish took a one-goal lead into the interval.

Early in the second half, a long kick forward from Hill found Jonté Smith, who ran on to the bouncing ball and unleashed a firm drive which brought a diving save from Burgess. Minutes later Smith scored the goal of the game when his diving header at the back post hit the underside of the crossbar before nestling in the back of the net to level the scores.

Parish would retake the lead on the hour mark when Samario Valasse-Paul’s low drive into the box from the right flank was allowed to bounce past two defenders before Justin Bell ran in from the left to sidefoot past the stranded Hill.

With time running out, St. George’s started to knock the ball forward more regularly in search of an equaliser, which came on the stroke of full time.

A goalmouth scramble resulted in two attempted shots at goal with the second deemed to have hit a defender’s arm. After consulting with his assistant, referee Tashun Simons awarded a penalty, which Smith coolly dispatched into the back of the net on his second attempt.

As Simons blew the whistle for full time, Parish fans and players started to squabble behind the Parish bench before the referee and security brought the matter under control.

Bell should have finished the game off in the last minute of extra time when Gianni Burgess was fouled in the area by Tyrell Burgess, leaving the referee an easy task of awarding a penalty. Bell’s spot-kick was brilliantly saved by a diving Hill, who was still on the ground as Bell smashed the rebound wide of the open net.

The game would then go into penalty kicks with Parish converted their first four and Burgess saving penalty kicks from N’Zari Paynter and Ryan King to send the Parish players and fans into a frenzy.

After issuing 15 cards in total, referee Simons then had to rescue goalkeeper Hill from a Parish fan who started to attack him as he was leaving the field of play.

SCORERS

St George’s: Smith 53, 90

Hamilton Parish: Walker 6, Bell 60

TEAMS

Hamilton Parish (4-2-3-1): N Burgess 7 — T Burgess 5 (sub: Q Outerbridge, 61 min 5), M Turner 6, M Hill 6, J Bean 5 (sub: J Burgess, 90 5)— Z Burgess 6, L Lewis 6 — K Knights 6, S Valasse-Paul 6 (sub: N Brockington, 90 5) J Bell 6 — M Walker 6 (sub: G Burgess, 61 6). Substitutes not used: A Foy, C Lindo, C Smith. Booked: Hill, Walker, Outerbridge, Knights, Bell, Bean, J Burgess.

St George’s Colts (4-1-4-1): J Hill 6 — M Paynter 5 (sub: J Daniels, 106), N Paynter 6, T Burgess 6, A Cannonier 5 (sub: O Bascome, 88 5) — J Salaam 5 — D Bascome 5 (sub: R King, 75 5), P Simons 5 (sub: K Minors, 108 5), K Hall 6, B Hall 6 — J Smith 7. Substitutes not used: D Zuill, Z Burgess. Booked: Burgess, Paynter, Daniels, Minors, B Hall. Sent off: Salaam

Referee: T Simons.