Hamilton Parish 1

Devonshire Cougars 1

Hamilton Parish striker Jamie Smith hailed his side's determination and grit after their draw against Devonshire Cougars at Devonshire Rec. which denied the champions a chance to go top heading into the Christmas break.

Smith buried a free-kick on the stroke of half-time to give his team the lead before Romone Smith scored in his own net to level matters.

"It was a hard-fought match, a lot of determination and grit showed by both sets of players but Cougars didn't want to win the match with the chances they had, so we will take what we got and look forward to what lies ahead for us," said Parish's Jamie Smith.

It was one way traffic for the majority of the match with Parish camped in their half for long spells but Cougars couldn't find the final touch that would make the difference, seeing chance after chance go begging.

The hosts couldn't blame just one person for their miscues in front of goal as all of their attacking options had efforts but wasted countless chances.

As the tension built around the field, it was Sean Brangman's needless tackle on Shayne Hollis that lead to Parish taking the lead. The foul was just outside the 18-yard box, and with the wall not prepared for the whistle, Smith lashed his effort in Ricardo Brangman's near post to make it 1-0 on the stroke of half-time.

The second half went the same way as the first, with Cougars dominating proceedings, but only got into the match after Parish defender Calvin Hansey was sent off for a second bookable offence.

Moments after the sending off, his replacement, Smith, was the culprit for the champions equaliser having beat both Nigel Burgess and Lamont Brangman to the ball and chipped into his own net.

With their tails up and smelling three points, they almost had them but efforts from Mark and Kwame Steede as well as Brangman were all thwarted by Burgess who had himself a master class game. In the end, a chance loss by the champions and a crucial point gained by the visitors as they look to keep chase with those above them.

"My hat goes off to our keeper Nigel who had a great game and he kept us in the match, but we as a team didn't give up and in the end we did what was necessary to get a result," said Smith.

Devonshire Cougars: R.Brangman, J.Butterfield, Z.White (R.Robinson,83),K.Franks, D.Cox, S.Brangman, K.Goddard (M.Steede,83), T.Steede, T.Smith (L.Brangman,45), K.Tucker, K.Steede

Substitutes not used: M.Doucet.

Goals: R.Smith, 78 own goal

Hamilton Parish: N.Burgess, A.Hill, C.Hansey, T.Webb, R.Richardson, A.Ebbin (R.Smith,73), O.Allen, R.Trott S.Hollis, J.Smith, C.Caisey

Substitutes not used: R.Simmons.

Goals: J.Smith, 45

Yellow cards: C. Hansey

Red cards: C.Hansey

Referee: G. O'Brien

Man of the Match: N. Burgess