Devonshire Cougars 0 Southampton Rangers 0; after extra time (Rangers win 4-2 on penalties)

Sean Perinchief, the Southampton Rangers goalkeeper, was the toast of the dressing room after playing an integral role in his team’s FA Cup first-round upset of Premier Division opponents Devonshire Cougars at Devonshire Recreation Club yesterday.

The experienced player made a string of saves, including one in a penalty shoot-out where First Division side Rangers prevailed to secure their place in the last eight of the competition.

“Sean is definitely man of the match for me,” Jomar Wilkinson, the Rangers coach, said. “He made some wonderful point blank saves that kept us in the game at a stage when they were coming at us.

“This is special. We wanted to prove that we are worthy of being promoted and today I thought the boys actually done that.

“They done a wonderful job. They put in a lot of work, were very brave and committed and I could not have asked for more.”

Perinchief saved Zeko White’s attempt in the penalty shoot-out to preserve Rangers’s 3-2 advantage before Calin Maybury’s effort struck the post to clinch it for the visitors, who celebrated their famous victory with their fans behind the eastern goal.

“We go over the penalty scenarios quite often in training and so the players are quite familiar with it,” Wilkinson added. “They showed a lot of composure and maturity during the penalty shoot-out.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy and my hat goes off to Cougars who done a wonderful job and brought the best out of us.”

Cougars knew they had a fight on their hands from the outset against a physically superior and well organised Rangers side that played some attractive football with their fluent movement in transition and hard work rate.

Ezekiel Stoneham, the Rangers captain, led from the front and was influential in many of his team’s attacks while the visitors defence, boasting former Cougars player Darius Cox, was impenetrable.

Clear cut chances were far and few during a first half which saw both sides enjoy swathes of possession but lacked end product in the attacking third.

Rangers had the first real chance of the match when Shannon Coddington-Burchall’s shot inside the box from point blank range was saved by Casey Hardtman, the Cougars goalkeeper.

The home side enjoyed a good spell just before the interval and nearly broke the deadlock. Striker Allan Douglas blazed over from 10-yards and then had another effort cleared off the line by defender Maquel Nisbett-Tankard before Perinchief made two spectacular saves to thwart Douglas’s strike partner Jomeko Mallory right on the halftime whistle.

Cougars were forced to make an unscheduled substitution during the break after Zekiro White, the central defender, pulled his left hamstring.

Rangers dominated possession in the second half and went close when winger Koshun Durrant brought off a fine save from teenager Hardtman, playing with a maturity beyond his age.

Cougars suffered another setback when captain Moses Steede limped off with an ankle injury.

Although forced to play second fiddle for most of the second half Cougars nearly stole the match with two late chances that had Rangers hearts fluttering.

Perinchief produced an outstanding one-handed save to deny Cougars midfielder Damian Simmons before substitute Lovintz Tota steered his effort into the side netting after getting behind the Rangers defence.

Both teams shooting woes continued in extra time, dragging the game into penalties where Rangers ultimately held the decisive edge.

“This feels like a kick in the gut,” Omar Butterfield, the Cougars coach, said. “It’s a hard loss and I expect better from my team.”