Southampton Rangers 1

Devonshire Cougars 2

Andrew Bascome likes to have his teams play football with a bit of flair, but in their predicament points were more important for Devonshire Cougars yesterday.

Cougars, who won the league two seasons ago, had not won in the league for six games and third from bottom going into the game at Southampton Oval.

The relief showed on Bascome’s face at the final whistle after first half strikes from Raymond Beach and Machi Battersbee earned his side three vital points.

“We always knew coming up here that Rangers would be very direct and you saw what they did, they kept three people up front to try to catch us because we like to play out of the back,” Bascome, the Cougars coach, said.

“We had to adapt so I asked my back four not to go forward. I don’t like to play like that, but I had to because we play with two overlapping fullbacks and Maurice [Lowe, the Rangers coach] knows that so he kept his wide players high.”

Early indications were this would be a high-scoring affair as two goals were scored in the first three minutes, with Raymond Beach putting the visiting side ahead in the second minute from close range, only to see Rangers equalise a minute later when Jesse Seymour converted against his former team from the penalty spot.

Cougars went ahead for good in the 29th minute when Battersbee drove an effort into the far corner after the Rangers defence failed to clear a Darius Cox free kick.

The home team had a lot of the possession in the second half, and they had the ball in the net in the 50th minute when Seymour’s cross was converted by Shaki Swan, but the flag was up for offside.

Seymour then had two efforts blocked by Johnson, including a shot late in the game after a strong run forward by Burch created the opening.