Hamilton Parish 3 Paget Lions 2

Hamilton Parish held off a spirited ten-man Paget Lions at Wellington Oval to advance to the next round of the FA Cup.

Parish’s goals came from Justin Bell, Kion Knights and a penalty by Leroy Lewis Jr with Bell having a penalty saved by Paget goalkeeper Omari DeShields a minute before the end.

Paget, who had central defender Jamar Stovel sent-off by Canadian referee Myriam Marcotte in the 66th minute, scored through Omari Tucker and captain Diaje Hart.

Sergio Goater, the Parish coach, was pleased to advance with the game played in tricky weather conditions.

“I'm really happy with the win as it’s a cup competition and our name is in the hat for the next round,’’ Goater said.

“It doesn't really matter how you play, it’s just about getting that victory and we’re going to the next round. It was a typical cup game and the conditions didn't really help. We both had to play in the same conditions but they were really bad.

“There were a lot of incidents and on the balance of the game we should have got the victory, but they always hung around.”

Goater was pleased that his side’s missed opportunities did not come back to bite them.

“When you miss chances like that, a team like Paget is going to keep coming at you.” Goater said.

“When we were supposed to manage the game, we really didn't do it. If you look down upon other teams, they’re going to come at you.

“When we missed that penalty, I thought it would come back and haunt us. We needed that penalty, the second one we got gave us an opportunity to take the pressure off and since we missed it, it put a lot of pressure on us again.”

On his team’s chances of further progression in the FA Cup, Goater is counting on the draw being favourable.

“We've to get some healthy players as we’re down to bare bones right now,’’ he said.

“It all depends on the luck of the draw and we’ll see how far we can go. That’s always a benefit, if our name’s in the hat, we’re going to win it.”

Paget coach Antwan Russell blamed the defeat on his team’s failure to get off the blocks faster than their opponents, with the coach forced to give instructions to his players from the terraces after he was sent off in his team’s last league match against the same opponents.

“It was a good game for the neutral supporter,’’ Russell told The Royal Gazette.

“I spoke to my team about having slow starts, as that’s our Achilles' heel. Today we found ourselves 2-0 down inside the opening 25 minutes, so it was a mountain to climb.

“When we got ourselves back at 2-2, I thought we had a chance. Credit to Parish and Sergio Goater. It’s a well-coached team and they got the better of us the whole season, so good luck to them in the next round.

“The first penalty was the turn of the game in my eyes, I think that was kind of a harsh call.

“I didn't feel it was a foul but the referee made the call. I knew if you make that call, you have to give a red card so I'm not arguing about the red card, I was arguing about the foul.

“It a was good game, I was pleased with my team. We’re growing as a team and it’s just a joy to be around this bunch.”

Russell conceded that even if they had won against Parish, their chances of winning the FA Cup were still slim.

“Realistically, are we going to win the FA Cup?,’’ he said. “It’s probably a blessing in disguise to come in at such a crunch time for the league, so I'm not even disappointed at all.”

Parish took the lead in the eighth minute when Bell was gifted the ball by Shentione Lambert and rifled the ball into the roof of the net. Knights doubled the lead five minutes later, making no mistake from close range after a delightful Lewis cross into the box.

Tucker scored Paget’s first goal in the 27th minute when he received a long pass to easily beat Chiquon Smith, the Parish goalkeeper.

Paget dominated early proceedings in the second half and they equalised six minutes after the break. Hart’s powerful shot with his left foot took a deflection and went past Smith.

The Parish keeper was at his best to deny Kushae Hypolite, the ball pushed out for a corner kick. Parish cleared the ball from that corner and launched a counter-attack, resulting in Lewis being pulled down inside the box by Stovel. Marcotte pointed to the spot and sent off the Paget defender, before Lewis dusted himself up to score the winner.

Lewis earned his side a second penalty just before the end of the match, DeShields the guilty party this time around. The Paget keeper made up for that mistake by diving to his left to push Bell’s effort out for a corner.

SCORERS

Hamilton Parish: Bell 8, Knights 13, Lewis 68 pen

Paget Lions: Tucker 28, Hart 51

TEAMS

Hamilton Parish (4-2-3-1): C Smith 7 – Q Outerbridge 6, M Turner 6, M Hill 6, J Bean 6 (sub: A Foy, 70min) – S Valasse-Paul 6, Z Burgess 6 (sub: S McKittrick, 70) – L Lewis 8, J Bell 7, K Knights 7 – M Walker 6. Substitutes not used: P Burgess, N Burgess, K Trott. Booked: Hill, Valasse-Paul, Bell.

Paget Lions (4-4-2): O DeShields 6 – J Carpenter 6, S Smith 6, J Stovel 4, S Lambert 4 (sub: K Davis, 27 6) – R DeShields 6, P Castle 6 (sub: D Stovell. 75), S Mitchell 6 (sub: A Grant, 75), D Hart 7 – O Tucker 6 (sub: Hypolite, 46 5), D Rawlins 6. Substitutes not used: T Hall, D Joell, K Durrant. Booked: P Castle, Hart, Grant. Sent off: Stovel

Referee: M Marcotte (Canada)