Hamilton Parish's survival hopes have been given a timely boost with key defender Kaiya Darrell set to return to action after completing his one-year ban for spitting at a referee.

The influential centre-half looks likely to go straight into the Hot Peppers' side for their crucial match against struggling Southampton Rangers at Wellington Oval on Sunday.

Club captain Nigel Burgess is adamant the team would not be languishing second from bottom in the Premier Division had Darrell been available all season.

"Kaiya is one of our more influential players and it's great to have him back," said the ex-Bermuda Hogges' goalkeeper.

"He's served his suspension and hopefully he can help us escape relegation.

"Last year he played super for us and we've really missed him this season as he's a quality defender.

"Recently we've been playing with an extra man at the back to try and rectify that problem."

Parish are three points adrift of Colts who have a far superior goal difference with four league games remaining on the fixture calendar.

But Burgess remains confident they can close the gap and believes Parish have the easiest run-in out of their relegation rivals.

"We have the easiest road to the end of the season among the other teams at the bottom," he said.

"We have to play the teams in and around us whereas Colts and Rangers have to play some of the top teams.

"Survival is still in our own hands and we plan to drag Colts and Rangers back into the relegation scrap.

"We're very confident of escaping and we have a lot of momentum going into our last four games.

"Colts and Rangers have both been losing games recently. Rangers are also missing Keith (Jennings) and that's a huge blow for them."

Former North Village player Jennings was yesterday one of three players to be punished by the Bermuda Football Association's (BFA) disciplinary committee for bringing the game into disrepute.

Jennings has been handed a one game ban and put on a six-month probation for head butting an opponent during Rangers' match against Devonshire Colts.

Dandy Town player Kevin Hurdle has been banned from four PDL matches for using foul and abusive language to a referee during Hornets' match with North Village.

And women's national academy player, Precious Smith, has been put on one year's probation for fighting during Lady Rams' game against Lady Cougars.

All of the offences took place in January.