Three second-half goals by the North Village Red Devils at the east end yesterday were more than enough to put paid to any hopes that Hamilton Parish may have had of improving their position in the First Division standings.

At the Wellington Oval, Parish fought hard in the first period and managed to take the lead only seconds before the half.

They were completely outplayed though in the second half and were forced to remain at the bottom of the tables by two well-taken goals by Elliott Jennings and a masterpiece of a score by Paul Simmons.

Jennings gave an indication of what he had in store for his opponents early when he executed a penetrating run down the right side and drilled a vicious shot inches high of the Parish goal. Fellow national squad player Kevin Grant came close only seconds later with a looping volley that went just wide of the right upright.

Parish had few chances in the early going, but they too were thwarted by their own lack of finish. Speedster Irving Burgess flighted a beautiful pass to the far post where it was met by Sinclair Gibbons. Unfortunately though, with the goal staring at him, Gibbons attempted a waist-high volley that he could only manage to screw well wide of the target.

Ernest Lathan had a scoring opportunity moments later but he too wasted a fine chance when he shot high of the goal with the Village goalkeeper off his line.

With momentum on their side late in the first half Parish finally found the back of the net only 10 seconds before referee John Bento blew the whistle for the interval. Gibbons' pace down the left wing saw him outstrip his defender and slip a perfect cross to Antwon Darrell on the edge of the Village penalty area. The forward made no mistake as he slotted the ball home despite the valiant effort of 'keeper Cymande Davis to deny him.

The Red Devils owned the second half and only had to wait three minutes after the restart before they found the equaliser. It came from a goalmouth scramble after a Village corner kick finally fell to Jennings who easily poked the ball home from the edge of the six-yard box.

Jennings came close to creating the second goal with a terrific cross that darted through the Parish goalmouth, only to be cleared over the goal by a desperate defender.

With Village mounting more and more pressure the go-ahead goal was always on the cards. Jennings produced it in the 58th minute when he collected the ball just outside the Parish area and turned beautifully to elude his marker and drill the ball low inside the left post.

The home team pulled out all the stops in a bid to get back into the match but once again weak finishing was to deny them.

Zane Stowe had a free run at goal but only lifted a weak lob right into the welcome arms of Davis. They were unlucky though late in the match when Darrell ripped a terrific shot that beat Davis but rebounded away from goal off the underside of the crossbar.

Simmons put paid to Parish's fading hopes only minutes from the final whistle with a beauty of a goal. Shrugging off a hard tackle down the right flank he raced inside the penalty area and rammed a low shot that gave goalkeeper Walter Brangman no chance as it sneaked inside the near post.

Hamilton Parish: W.Brangman, P.Webb, D.Trott (E.Lathan, 32 mins), J.Nichol, C.Caisey, Z.Stowe, K.Simons (A.Outerbridge, 65 mins), G.Place, I.Burgess, A.Darrell, S.Gibbons.

North Village: C.Davis, K.Grant, M.Hansey, K.Binns, W.Augustus, K.Jennings, E.Jennings, R.Edness, S.Coddington, P.Simmons, S.Dill (P.Clarke, 70 mins).

Referee: John Bento.

Men of the match: Antwon Darrell (Hamilton Parish); Elliott Jennings (North Village).

PAUL SIMMONS -- Masterpiece.