Such is the nature of this season’s Premier Division that this result is not the surprise it once was.

Two first-half goals were enough to give Robin Hood a vital win in their fight to stay in the top flight, moving them into the relative safety of sixth in the league.

Devonshire Cougars, meanwhile, drop to seventh and on a miserable night for the home side the only surprise was how poor they were.

Toothless in attack and rather headless in defence, a neutral could have been forgiven for thinking that Cougars were the team battling relegation. Mind you, with just three points separating them from Flanagan’s Onions, who are bottom and play Hood on Monday, they might soon be.

It took the visiting side just six minutes to take the lead, when Shaun Brown’s quick ball out of midfield wrong-footed Kenneth Desilva, the Cougars defender, and Antwan Russell raced clear. Russell still had plenty to do, coming in from a tight angle on the left, even so, Daniel Johnson, the Cougars goalkeeper, had no business being beaten on his near post.

Cougars created a couple of half chances, with Dominique Williams and Jasekani Furbert-Wade both going close, but the home side lacked any real width and with Jaylon Bather and Justin Titterton, the Hood central defenders, dominant in the air, there was little joy to be had with the ball down the middle.

On the one occasion that the home side did use some width, Machai Battersbee got free down the right, beat Jason Simons, the Hood goalkeeper, to the ball and then knocked his effort across the face of goal.

Hood, for their part, were content to play deep, soak up the pressure and whack everything that came their way long and hope that Corey Boyce or Antwan Russell, could cause enough trouble to create a half chance or two.

One of those long balls that Hood launched forward paid dividends a minute before half-time, when Titterton collected Darius Cox’s clearing header on the half way line, played the ball back over the Cougars defence, and Tevahn Tyrell fired it past Johnson to double his side’s lead.

That was to be the end of the scoring, but only because Johnson was at his absolute best in the second half.

Boyce had a couple of chances to score, but either miscued at the vital moment, or a Cougars defender got in the way.

Hood, meanwhile, were rarely troubled, and even the presence of Derrick Brangman upfront did little to change matters.