Hamilton Parish 2

Robin Hood 2

Chris Caisey came back from a four-game ban to help Hamilton Parish earn a replay in their FA Cup quarter-final with Robin Hood at Wellington Oval.

Parish trailed 2-0 after 31 minutes as Hood looked like winning comfortably.

However, captain Caisey set up one and scored the other from two free kicks as Parish made Hood pay for taking their foot off the gas.

“The game became too easy, it reminded me of the Liverpool game [2-2 at home to Sunderland] yesterday,” Kyle Lightbourne, the Robin Hood coach, said. “We were in control and they scored from two set pieces which gave them a lifeline.

“We just made hard work of a game we should have won. It was poor on our behalf and we could see it happening on the sidelines.”

Parish, without first-choice goalkeeper Nigel Burgess and looking a bit disjointed at the start, went behind in the seventeenth minute when Ereiko Outerbridge crossed into the box and when the ball popped up, Nathan Peskett pounced to power his header past goalkeeper Dwayne Astwood.

Hood went close to adding a second seven minutes later when Aaron Nelson’s inswinging corner from the left hit the crossbar.

Hood added a second in the 31st minute when Tre Dill made room for himself on the left side before driving a left-footed shot into the far top corner.

It was game on at the half, however, when Parish pulled a goal back in the 42nd minute after Tareek Webb got on the end of Caisey’s perfectly placed free kick into the box to steer his free header past goalkeeper Jason Simons.

Caisey, who captained Devonshire Cougars to FA Cup success in 2013 when they won the “Triple Crown”, threatened with another free kick outside the box but this time Webb somehow put his header over the bar.

At the other end, Astwood made an important save at the feet of Daniel Andrade after he started a move with a long ball from midfield and then got into the box to receive the pass from Outerbridge.

With Parish’s new-found belief, the game was nicely balanced as Dill went close for Robin Hood when he collected a long pass from Antwan Russell and then curled his effort over the bar.

Parish finally levelled in the 76th minute when another foul was committed outside the box. Caisey had an opening and chipped his free kick from 20 yards over the wall and into the roof of the net.

Not wanting a replay, Hood immediately brought on Lejuan Simmons for Andrade and he had a header smothered by Astwood after a corner from Russell in the closing minutes.

“We just didn’t do the job today and now we have a replay. They had a weak team today, Nigel wasn’t in goal and we just took it for granted. Chris is a good player and will make a difference in any team in this division.”

Scorers

Hamilton Parish (Webb 42, Caisey 76)

Robin Hood (Peskett 17, Dill 31)

Hamilton Parish (4-4-2): D Astwood — K Cann, E Signor, A Smith, J Hunter-Tucker — C Caisey, P Richardson, B Edward, T Webb — M Walker (sub: R Tyrell, 70 min), D Thompson. Substitutes not used: M Clemens, I Creighton, C Wade, D Minks.

Robin Hood (4-3-3): J Simons — J Pereira, D Cox, C Fosker, P Froncioni (sub: A Ivo, 65) — A Nelson, E Outerbridge, D Andrade (sub: L Simmons, 77) — T Dill, A Russell, N Peskett. Substitutes not used: J Titterton, C Boyce, M McGowan, L Simons, T Williams.

Referee: A Augustus.