FC Rhino 0 Hamilton Parish 0 (Hamilton Parish won 4-2 on penalties)

Hamilton Parish were spared blushes after defeating Carlsberg League side FC Rhino in a penalty shoot-out in an action-packed FA Cup preliminary round clash at Wellington Oval on Sunday.

Both teams hit the woodwork and squandered several golden opportunities and after 120 minutes of non-stop end-to-end action were forced to settle matters from 12-yards, where First Division outfit Parish ultimately prevailed with a flawless display to deny their opponents an upset.

Substitute Clay Darrell, Kion Knights, captain Aaron Burgess and Leroy Lewis were all on target, while Rico Beek’s effort was saved by Parish goalkeeper Curtis Jackson and substitute Vernon Perinchief blasted over the bar.

Parish captain Burgess was relieved to come away with the desired outcome.

“Happy to go through and we just have to keep on winning,” he told The Royal Gazette.

“We had a lot of chances and didn’t put them away, so we just had to keep on going. We have good players and I knew we would get over the line.”

Rhino captain, playmaker Keith Jennings, felt that missed chances contributed to his team’s defeat.

“We had our chances which we should have put away, but it was a good game, enjoyed it and the referee [Martin Wyer] had a good game.”

Jennings had the first real chance of the match after finding himself in space in the box, but Jackson was equal to the task as he made himself big to block his effort.

Parish also went close to breaking the deadlock with winger Knights striking the post and Ande Simons dragging wide during fluent counter attacks.

A beautiful pass by Jennings over the top set up a one-on-one situation for winger Shakhai Trott, whose lob over the onrushing Jackson struck the far post to leave the teams deadlocked at the break.

Rhinos came out swinging after the restart but spurned a glorious opportunity when striker Dion Stovell blasted over from close range and then had another effort from inside the box saved by Jackson after Parish were caught in possession deep in their own half.

Jackson also positioned himself well to gather Rhino defender Eimhin Ryan’s header from a corner and then comfortably saved substitute Dashun Butterfield’s tame effort from close range after being picked out by Stovell’s cut back on the right side of the box.

Parish won a free- kick in a dangerous position just outside of the box which forward Lewis smashed into the Rhino wall. The loose ball fell to defender Kyah Trott, whose shot was saved by Rhino goalkeeper Jamin Furbert.

Rhino winger Butterfield, who was a constant threat with his wizardry and pace out wide, turned sharply on his marker on the edge of the box but was unable to hit the target.

Parish’s Knights, Lewis and Darrell all had good looks at goal near the end of regulation but were unable to capitalise to send the cup-tie into extra time.

Stovell found himself in space around the penalty spot in the first period of extra time but Parish defender Kyle Wade, who came off the bench, made a timely block to snuff out the threat.

At the other Furbert rushed off his line to deny Knights a clear run at goal to leave the game still deadlocked after the first period of extra time.

Furbert was again called upon to come off his line to beat Darrell in a foot race to a loose ball after the teams switched ends for the second time of the match.

Parish hearts skipped a beat when Stovell’s free- kick from outside of the box curled just wide of the near post.

Knights also brought off another save from Jackson to set up a penalty shoot-out that finally separated the teams.

TEAMS

FC Rhino: J Furbert — K Wilkinson, S Trott, R Beek, E Ryan, K Jennings, C Castle, T Brown, K Simmons, D Stovell, M Burgess. Substitutes: Q Lema, D Butterfield, R Richardson, E Stoneham, M Armstrong, R Simons

Hamilton Parish: C Jackson, A Simons, V Lambe, A Burgess, Q Outerbridge, M Madeiros, L Lewis, K Knights, K Crockwell, G Butterfield, K Trott Substitutes: K Wade, A Smith, J Hunt- Tucker, N Burgess, X Muwwakkil -Allen, C Darrell

Referee: M Wyer