Dandy Town 1

Devonshire Cougars 2

Dandy Town slumped to a second straight home defeat as Devonshire Cougars left St John’s Field with all three points yesterday.

Cougars, with an average age of about 22, were not intimidated by Town’s success last season as they led 2-0 midway through the first half, and could have had a third had Cashun Brangman not wasted a good chance midway through the half.

The champions made three changes to the team that lost 3-1 at home to Robin Hood in their league opener. Drewonde Bascome was sidelined with a shoulder injury he picked up last weekend, while Seion Darrell and Damon Ming were both benched.

After being outplayed in the first half, the Hornets showed more determination after Angelo Simmons, their captain, pulled one goal back soon after the restart.

However, Cougars absorbed late pressure to hang on for their first win of the season after goals from Machi Battersbee and Kijuan Franks separated the teams.

“Again, a lapse of concentration early in the first half when we shoot ourselves in the foot by giving teams early chances,” Jomar Wilkinson, the Town coach, said.

“Then we’re chasing the game and it makes it much more difficult. We need to make sure we get off to a good start.

“We definitely have the quality to win the game but we can’t afford to be chasing the game. I thought in the second half we came out and showed some character, and I thought we still created enough chances to win the game.”

Battersbee broke the deadlock just 11 minutes in when slack defending enabled Mikkiel Thomas to get through on the left and cross for Battersbee to sidefoot home from inside the six-yard box.

The goal stunned the champions but Cougars were deserving of the lead and should have had a second in the 23rd minute when a mixup between Ajai Daniels, the goalkeeper, and Kwonde Lathan, his defender, saw Lathan head the ball against Daniels’s legs before Brangman pounced, but hurried his shot wide of an open goal.

The second Cougars goal did come three minutes later, however, when Battersbee’s pace opened the Town defence as he raced onto a through ball, before the advancing Daniels brought him down.

Franks, Cougars’s most experienced player along with Zeko White, the captain, kept his cool to send Daniels the wrong way with his spot-kick.

A good low one-handed save by Daniels soon after denied Cougars a third when he kept out Jawonday Smith’s shot.

Town played with more urgency after the restart and pulled a goal back in the 52nd minute when defender Kor-von Tucker crossed to the near post where Simmons scored from close range.

It was a more even game after that as Town picked up the pace, though Cougars continued to threaten.

Daniels denied them a third on the hour when he saved Zeko White’s effort at the near post after Daeshun Butterfield lost possession in his own half. Daniels turned the shot around the near post.

Town brought on Darrell and Ming in the 73rd minute in hopes of snatching an equaliser, but Darrell wasted a free kick on the left edge of the penalty box, before Mikkiel Thomas immediately wasted a good opportunity at the other end when he fired over from inside the box.

Ming then drove a low shot just wide of the far post in injury time as Town had one final chance in injury time to snatch a point.

“We came here with a plan and it’s nice to see it play out,” Omar Butterfield, the Cougars coach, said.

“Two-nothing is a dangerous scoreline to take into half-time, so it was important that we kept up the tempo and added to what we did in the first half.”

Town already trail North Village, the league leaders, by six points, but Wilkinson insists there is no need for panic.

“We understand we still have to play the contenders twice so those six points can be made up,” he said.

‘We have to take one game at a time but don’t count us out because we will return stronger than ever.

“Everybody is going to play their best game against us, but we make no excuses. We have to play better and we will.”

TEAMS

Scorers

Dandy Town (Simmons 52)

Devonshire Cougars (Battersbee 11, Franks 26, pen)

Dandy Town (4-3-3): A Daniels — J Amory (sub: S Darrell, 73min), K Lathan, N Smith, K Tucker — J Swan, J Richardson-Martin (sub: K Davis, 65), T Goater — A Simmons, C Burgess, D Butterfield (sub: D Ming, 73). Substitutes not used: K Wade, E Blankendal, E Moore. Booked: Butterfield.

Devonshire Cougars (4-3-3): X Outerbridge-Smith — M Rudo, K Franks, Zekiro White, Zion Simmons — Zari Simmons (sub: N Carmichael, 72), Zeko White, C Brangman (sub: L Brangman, 61) — M Battersbee, J Smith (sub: H Stevens-Carty, 88), M Thomas. Substitutes not used: C Hardtman, N Simmons, S Jones, Y Mattews.

Referee: A Augustus.