Hamilton Parish 1

Devonshire Cougars 3

Korvon Tucker grabbed a brace as Devonshire Cougars' easy win over Hamilton Parish at Wellington Oval sent them top of the Premier Division.

The Cougars striker hit two in the first half, and could have two more. Kwarme Steede grabbed his side's third goal after the break and in truth the visitors, could, and should, have had a hatful.

Cougars completely dominated the league newcomers, and a Jamie Smith penalty aside, Parish never threatened an upset.

The decidely lukewarm Hot Peppers, more oregano than jalepeno, largely contributed to their own downfall with some poor defending and a lack of bite in midfield.

Both Tucker's goals came from defensive lapses which left the Cougars man unmarked and in acres of space, and, as Parish boss Mark Jennings put it "he's a prolific enough goalscorer without us helping him.

"We still continue to give goals away and it's going to be hard, week in and week out, if we do that," said Jennings.

"We need to stick to our roles better as a team, we have to be a bit more fundamentally sound.

"The game is won in the middle of the park and if we aren't tighter in the middle then we are going to continue to be exposed."

In fact, there was little to cheer Parish, who failed to cope with the pace and movement of their opponents all afternoon and are now third from bottom, having lost their last two games.

Things might have been different if Parish had kept things tight once Smith's penalty had cancelled out Tucker's opener. But too often they left gaps at the back and Cougars punished them for it.

More than anything, a lack of communication in defence proved Parish's downfall, and goalkeeper Nigel Burgess and his defenders are going to have to improve markedly if they are to avoid spending the season battling against relegation.

That is not to say that all is lost for Parish. They played well in patches and may well cause other teams problems if they can do it for 90 minutes.

Jennings for one is convinced that his side can turn things around.

"Overall I don't think it was a bad effort, all is not lost, and I know we can do better.

"We have to keep on going, we scored a goal anyway, which is a positive and it's still early and we can still just take one game at a time.

"There are problem areas, and we will address them in practice, areas such as tightening up in the middle of the park, communicating a little bit better with one another.

"We need to get people fit. I don't think any side in this league is that much better than anyone else, but the key is fitness.

"All is not lost, we'll come back next week, brush oursevles off and get back into it, and go hard again and see what happens."

Hamilton Parish: N.Burgess, R.Evans, K.Darrell, C.Hansey, T.Webb, R.Smith, W.Smith, L.Raynor (P.Medeiros, 71 mins), P.Richardson (R.Ebbin, 54 mins), M.Albouy (N. Swan, 57 mins), J.Smith.

Devonshire Cougars: R.Brangman, D.Cox, I.Mallory, O.Butterfield, J.Butterfield, P.Swan (D.Coddington, 57 mins), R.Robinson, T.Steede (Mark Steede, 71 mins), Moses Steede (D.Eve 57 mins), K.Tucker, K.Steede.

Yellow card: R.Evans, N.Swan (both Hamilton Parish)

Man of the match: K.Tucker (Devonshire Cougars)

Referee: George O'Brien