North Village 2 Hamilton Parish 0

North Village brought Hamilton Parish’s three-match winning streak to a halt with a well-constructed win at Bernard Park yesterday.

Goals on either side of the interval from Nacori Smith and Jaizel Smith-DeShields provided sufficient tonic for Rams to reduce what had been a red-hot Peppers outfit to a mild concoction.

Iron-clad Village defending served to stymie a hitherto free-flowing Parish attack and enabled a more effecient attacking dimension, which was something that coach Kenny Thompson had been yearning for.

“We’re really happy to win and record another shutout,” Thompson said. “I think, unlike the previous two matches that we’ve won and kept a shutout, today we were a little more purposeful with the ball.

“I think we were better in possession. We managed well being up 1-0 and we also managed being up 2-0 much better. So we’re improving game by game. There’s still a long way to go but so far so be it.”

Villiage initially had to weather a storm as Parish impressed early, albeit without reward.

Macquille Walker squandered a breakaway chance to give the away side the lead after 10 minutes when the striker’s left-foot shot crashed off goalkeeper Detre Bell’s left upright.

Continued intense pressure from the top flight newcomers found no end product and Village cleverly took advantage of any defensive gaps left to take the lead

Intricate passing in the final third between Jalin Harvey and Smith-DeShields during one counter-attack stripped the visitor’s back-line to offering up a gift to Smith at the edge of the six-yard box, and his side-footed effort was remarkable for the ease of conversion.

Village further stepped up play after the break, with Smith-DeShields the catalyst, consistently creating space to operate for himself and his team-mates to attack.

Parish were not without their moments, one of which was produced by Jordan Outerbridge in the 67th minute when he turned on a dime inside the area before unleashing a volley that Bell was relieved to see come straight at him.

Five minutes later, Smith-DeShields offered Julian Roser no such luxury after benefiting from another well-crafted attack.

Parish rarely looked like scoring after Village doubled the lead, but coach Sergio Goater was not totally displeased with the loss, his side’s first in league play for more than a season.

“We applied ourselves and were good in the first two thirds, but in the attacking third we lacked a little bit of craft and decision making,” Goater said. “We also hit the post and didn’t have things go our way.

“We weren’t able to break them down right away and we lost a bit of patience in the final third rather than keeping possession a little more and knocking the ball around until we were able to break them down.”

The result allowed Village to stake a position among the early league leaders with a perfect record.

SCORERS

North Village: N Smith 25; J Smith-DeShields 72.

TEAMS

North Village (4-3-1-2): D Bell 7 -- S Bell 7, T Wilson 7, K Knights 7, J Harvey 7 -- A Dos Santos 7, V Perinchief 6 (sub: T Williams, 88min), T Ming 7 -- J Bell 7 --J Smith-DeShields 8 (sub: P Smith, 80), N Smith 8 (sub: T Bean, 88). Substitutes not used: O DeShields, K Carrington.

Hamilton Parish (4-3-2-1): J. Roser 6 -- M Hill 6, M Turner 6, Q Outerbridge 6, J Bean 6 -- K Knights 6 (sub: K Wade, 88), Z Burgess 6 (sub: S McKittrick, 73), J Outerbridge 5 (sub: K Richardson, 88) -- A Nelson 6, S Hollis 6 -- M Walker 5 (sub: S Albouy, 73); Substitutes not used: D McKittrick, C Castle, P Tohill; Booked: S Goater; Sent off: Q Outerbridge.

Referee: T Simons