Hamilton Parish 1 North Village 2

North Village moved back to the top of the Premier Division after a hard-fought win at Wellington Oval on Saturday afternoon.

Village, who were not at their best, started well and passed around pressure confidently to dictate the tempo of the match and they got an early goal in the eighth minute when Daion Swan-Desilva's strike was blocked and cleared by the Parish defence.

Village recycled the play, first through Terryn Fray, and then a long pass by Liam Evans was beautifully worked by D’Andre Wainwright, who laid off for Jaizel Smith-Deshields to pass wide for Jalen Harvey. The marauding left back took one touch to fool goalkeeper Nigel Burgess and then slotted into the empty net despite the desperate challenge of covering defender Quinn Outerbridge.

The concession of that opening goal galvanised Parish and they slowly grew into the game in terms of territory, even though Village were by far the more composed side in the final third.

Despite the game evening up, it was Village who scored the next goal five minutes before half time. A neat move between Smith-Deshields, Wainwright, Evans and Desilva culminated with the latter being fouled by Samuel McKittrick.

Wainwright took responsibility for the resulting free kick, curling it beautifully into the far post past the despairing lunge of goalkeeper Burgess.

Wainwright turned from hero to villain in the early stages of the second half when missing a gilt-edged chance to end the game as a contest.

Harvey, found via a lovely driven pass by Khimo Harrison, sprinted into space on the right and drove in a square cross for Wainwright, who had the simple task of connecting with his laces to finish into the unguarded net, but instead the striker opted to go with the side-foot finish, firing wide.

Village were made to pay for that glaring miss midway through the second half when former Village striker Justin Bell fired a pass through for McKittrick to flick on for Macquille Walker. He cut inside Rai Sampson and finished low underneath Detre Bell, creating an exciting conclusion.

The match opened up in the final ten minutes with end-to-end action and a frantic tempo, as Parish tried to score the equaliser that would have had serious ramifications in the title race.

Ther best chance came about five minutes from time when Samario Valasse-Paul delivered a pinpoint cross to Walker on the penalty spot, but the Parish skipper failed to direct his header on target, and Village maintained their cool until the final whistle to secure the grinding victory, pulling two points clear of Zebras and Cougars prior to their tasty meeting on Sunday night.

Village veteran Terryn Fray spoke about complacency possibly setting in through the second half.

“We were told to keep our focus,” Fray said. “However, we lost some concentration and this led to a goal.

“Victories must continue,” he added. “We are working on things each week. Performances must show that we deserve these victories and the team is up for the challenge.”

SCORERS

Hamilton Parish: Walker 70

North Village: Harvey 8, Wainwright 40

TEAMS

Hamilton Parish (4-2-3-1): N Burgess 5 – K Knights 6, Q Outerbridge 6, Z Burgess 5, M Turner 5 – A Nelson 6, S McKittrick 5 – A Foy 5, J Bell 6, S Valasse-Paul 6 – M Walker 6. Substitutes not used: P Burgess, J Stowe, R McKittrick, K Trott, K Wade. Booked: Z Burgess.

North Village (3-4-2-1): D Bell 6 – T Fray 6, R Sampson 5, T Wilson 6 – J Harvey 7, L Evans 6 (sub: T Ming, 77min), K Harrison 6, T Williams 6 (sub: T Bean, 70) – D Swan-Desilva 6, J Smith-Deshields 6 (sub: A Deshield-Tankard, 70 6) – D Wainwright 6 (sub: L Steede 70 ; sub: P Smith 87). Substitutes not used: I Simmons, J Outerbridge. Booked: Williams, Fray.

Referee: J Springer (Barbados)