Southampton Rangers 3 Devonshire Cougars 1

Southampton Rangers dealt Devonshire Cougars a huge blow to their league title aspirations after they comfortably beat the defending champions at Southampton Oval yesterday.

Goals from Vernon Perinchief, Keedai Astwood, and Janeiro Tucker helped the hosts to victory. Drewonde Bascome scored for Cougars.

The win lifts Rangers to sixth in the table, while Cougars fall one spot to fourth.

McQuinn Burch, the Rangers captain, said. “We came out looking to get a foothold in the game early on, and it was beneficial to get the first goal. Once we got the first goal, we had the momentum and it is always crucial to get that in terms of being the hosts.”

Cougars, who were missing several players, had been hoping to get back into the thick of the title race but they were never really up to the task.

Perinchief’s goal sparked the game into life in the 35th minute, when his curling free kick was aided by the wind to beat Daniel Johnson, the Cougars goalkeeper. It then went from bad to worse for the visitors just seven minutes later, when poor defending by Cougars allowed Tucker to send a pass into Astwood’s feet, who turned and made no mistake from just outside the area.

Rangers’ midfield controlled the match for the better part of 60 minutes, not allowing Cougars the time and space to pick the telling ball they are accustomed to.

With skipper Burch, and Maurice Lowe, Rangers player-coach, marshalling the backline, they remained compact when defending and dangerous on the counterattack thanks to Tucker, Astwood, and Steven Astwood.

The introduction of Mark Steede to the Cougars attack almost paid immediate dividends in the 57th minute, but his effort from point-blank range was straight at Rangers goalkeeper Jason Smith.

Steede’s miss would prove crucial, as Tucker then had the simple task of tapping in from close range after Perinchief sent a defence splitting ball into the Cougars area that caught Johnson out of position.

Bascome then tried his luck from 20 yards after some nifty footwork by the dreadlocked midfielder. But Bascome, like many of his team-mates, could only find the grateful arms of Smith with his shot.

Bascome did manage to pull a goal back when his shot beat Smith at his near post, rebounded off the woodwork and off Smith’s back to nestle in the net. Cougars threw men forward with Steede coming closest to scoring in the final exchanges, but his header was straight down Smith’s throat.

Burch added: “[Cougars] being champions puts the pressure on them, and with both sides coming out to get the result for respective reasons, it was imperative to match them.

“As the home side, who has a comfortable lead, complacency sets in and we didn’t want that to happen today.

“They got their goal in the middle of pressuring to get back in the match, but I felt we were the better side and deserved the points.”