Hamilton Parish are faced with the daunting prospect of spending Christmas alone at the bottom of the First Division following this hammering at the hands of Boulevard last night at PHC Stadium.

Parish, the surprise team in the first half of the season last year when they qualified for Dudley Eve, are looking more and more like relegation certainties.

They trailed by just one goal at the half before Boulevard blew them away with three further goals in the space of 17 minutes midway through the second half.

With Corey Hill and Dalton Burgess back from school, Parish showed plenty of confidence and commitment early as they threatened to hit back from last week's 9-1 Friendship Trophy loss to Somerset.

But it was Boulevard who created the better of the chances as Vernon Symonds robbed Chris Caisey outside the Parish area and set up Amon Brown with a shot that went close in the 14th minute.

One of Parish's best chances came on the half hour when a long ball down the right flank for Hill saw him cross to the far post where the ball went wide by inches.

Five minutes later Boulevard went in front when Carlos Pearman scored direct from an inswinging corner on the right side. It was no more than Boulevard deserved after a period of dominance and they should have had two more goals late in the half when Neil Robinson, back from World Cup duty alongwith defender Leroy Stevens, missed a couple of chances.

A minute before the break Robinson was denied when he delayed his shot and saw his effort blocked by the advancing George Fox. However, he managed to collect the rebound and only a deflection by the recovering Sinclair Gibbons denied him a goal at the second attempt.

Boulevard never let Parish back into the match in the second half, despite Shane Burgess' entry as a substitute for Antwon Darrell in the 55th minute.

Robinson went close again in the 51st and 53rd minutes before Amon Brown doubled the Boulevard lead with a low shot into the far corner in the 57th minute.

Boulevard started to look themselves as some neat buildups stretched the Parish defence. Kenny Hill was brought on to replace Vernon Symonds on the hour and he responded with two goals in four minutes to settle the issue after Irving Burgess had a volley smartly turned aside for a corner by Jean Gibbons.

First, in the 70th minute, Hill was allowed to turn inside the box following a cross from the left and Fox was helpless as his low shot found the far bottom corner.

Four minutes later Fox could only parry a shot from Robinson and Hill was quicker to pounce on the loose ball than Fox was to recover and he drove in the rebound from less than six yards.

Hard working midfielder Walton Burgess prevented the shutout with a consolation goal for Parish in the 87th minute when he neatly chipped the ball over Gibbons who was caught off his line.

Hamilton Parish: G.Fox; Q.Outerbridge, D.Burgess, C.Caisey, S.Gibbons (A.Outerbridge 67min); J.Nichol, K.Simons, W.Burgess; C.Hill, A.Darrell (S.Burgess 55min), I.Burgess.

Boulevard: J.Gibbons; D.Boyles, K.Darrell, L.Stevens, V.Eve; J.Boyles, N.Robinson, A.Brown (T.Burgess 77min), D.Warren, V.Symonds (K.Hill 60min), C.Pearman.

Men of match: Walton Burgess (Hamilton Parish), Dwight Warren (Boulevard).

Referee: Esten Curtis.

First Division soccer continues tonight at Devonshire Rec with St. David's meeting St. George's in an east end derby at 8 p.m.