Community clash for Parish and X’Roads
Hamilton Parish coach Keishon Smith believes the Shield final tomorrow will have a community feel when his side take on X’Roads at the National Sports Centre.The two clubs are in the centre of their respective communities and are embraced by their fans who travel and support the team islandwide.In what will be the second meeting between the two clubs this season, the former Devonshire Colts coach is hopeful his supporters will be the ones celebrating a successful defence of the title they won last year.Super-sub Romone Smith grabbed an extra-time winner last year as they beat Wolves.“To play for these two clubs you have to be apart of that community and area and that is the good thing about this match,” said Smith. “The game will be a good one.“They have a very good side down there with a lot of young guys that have quality and they showed that when they beat us in the league earlier so we won’t be taking this game lightly by any means.“At the end of the day it’s the two teams that will do battle and being the defending champions we want to defend what is ours.”Smith will also be trying to win his first piece of silverware for his hometown club, although he played down the importance of winning the competition, putting more emphasis on the team.“It isn’t about me winning my first cup for the club, it’s about getting the best result, that’s why you play the sport.“It’s a great opportunity to be in this position but it isn’t over and the main objective is to gain promotion and anything else is a bonus.“Any final is to be sorted out on the day and that is how this is going to go, we have put in the hard work and we want to establish ourselves as a top flight team again.”Parish and X’ Roads have taken different paths to reach the final, with X’Roads having to qualify to get into the event proper, beating Wolves, Prospect, and Flanagan’s Onions to book their place.Parish beat Young Men’s Social Club and Paget en route to the NSC.With it being a one off match, Smith believes the side who wins may not necessarily have an edge over the loser, but rather will gain belief and confidence heading into the second half of the season.“Whoever wins the final will have added belief and determination to go and get the job done in the second half of the season given we are close to one another,” he said.“Both teams have got better since we last met and also taking into consideration that we have a new faces in our team that came in late transfers.”Parish take on X’Roads at 3pm.
