Paget 1 Young Men’s Social Club 0

Social Club goalkeeper Ryan Evans was sent off and had to be separated from assistant referee Stefan Maybury as Paget squeezed past Social Club in the FA Cup first round at White Hill Field on Sunday.

Bermuda’s Fifa-accredited referee Amaury Majors was kept busy in this ill-tempered affair, issuing 11 cards, including a red for Evans with just under 20 minutes to play. Already a goal down after Shakir Smith scored the game’s only goal for Paget in the 53rd minute, Evans was cautioned for shouting abuse at Maybury in the 68th minute.

Just five minutes later, he engaged in another exchange of words with the same assistant with both men needing to be restrained by players and security. Evans was then given his second caution and sent off leaving his team to finish the match with ten men and Clay Darrell moving between the posts.

A small skirmish also occurred towards the end of the match when goalscorer Smith was hacked down from behind by Jinairo Johnston with both benches emptying before referee Majors brought the incident under control and issued cards to the main two culprits.

The match started as an even encounter with Clay Darrell rising high to get off a powerful header from Giniko Butterfield’s corner and forcing Lions goalkeeper Shaquille Bean into making a reflex save to parry the ball off the line..

At the other end, Paget captain Diaje Hart was given room to shoot but Evans was well positioned to pull in his goalbound effort.

Social Club captain and free-kick specialist Ryan Parris came close but his curling effort sailed over the crossbar. Parris then played a diagonal ball over the top, which Josh Hardtman chased down but sliced wide from a good position.

Social Club were awarded a penalty in the 41st minute when Rakeem Deshields was guilty of hacking down Jinairo Johnston inside the box, giving referee Majors an easy penalty call. Bean kept his clean sheet as he dived to his right to save Parris’s kick.

Evans was well-positioned to cradle Rio Russell’s firmly struck free kick on the stroke of half time, leaving the match scoreless at the half.

Shortly after the restart, Paget would score the all-important and decisive goal from a set piece. Russell played a corner to the back post, which was headed into the centre by Toby Gibbons to find Shakir Smith unmarked for a simple tap-in beyond the stranded Evans.

Social Club responded almost immediately and nearly scored when Darrell’s shot was heading for goal only for Kion Knights to stick his boot out at the last minute to deflect the ball over for a corner. Butterfield took the resulting corner which curled onto the upright untouched before being cleared to safety as Social Club searched for an equaliser.

Scorers:

Paget: Smith 53

Teams

Paget Lions (4-2-3-1): S Bean 7 ― K Knights 6, J Carpenter 7, R Deshields 6, N Carpenter 6 ― C Gibbons 7, A Lee 6 ― D Hart 6, R Russell 6 (sub: A Butterfield, 66min 5), K Richardson 6 (sub: T Davis, 57 5) ― S Smith 7 (sub: O Tucker, 87). Substitutes not used: M Basden, M Emery, K Simmons. Booked: Lee, Bean, Smith, Stovell (coach).

Young Men’s Social Club (4-2-3-1): R Evans 5 ― J Smith 6, A Simons 6, R Parris 6, J Mensah 5 ― A Matthews 5 (sub: A Cannonier, 27 6), G Butterfield 6 (sub: M Wilson, 90+7) ― M Hardtman 6, J Johnston 6, C Darrell 7 ― Z Lewis 6. Substitutes not used: M Rudo, A Samuels, Q Simmons, B Swan, K Butterfield, T Butterfield. Booked: Matthews, Smith, Simons, Darrell, Evans, Johnston. Sent off: Evans.

Referee: A Majors