Dandy Town 2 Dev. Cougars 2

North Village were the clear winners from last night's contest at St. John's Field, even though the league leaders were not involved.

Devonshire Cougars, third in the Premier Division, needed victory from one of the two games in hand they had at start of play to put pressure on the reigning champions going into Sunday's crunch clash between the two at Bernard Park.

The 2-2 draw, though admirable for the way in which Cougars came back from two goals down, did little for the cause of Albert Smith's side.

It means that Village are five points clear of Cougars, with Town, meanwhile, in fourth place on 14 points. Boulevard have the same points total as Cougars but are second due to a superior goal difference.

Cougars could not have got off to a worse start last night, going a goal down after nine minutes when Carlos Smith fired across Ricardo Brangman and into the net at the far post.

Three minutes later they were down by two when Greg Foggo's free-kick on the left was nicked home at the near post by the diminutive Reggie Tucker.

And they were lucky not to be 3-0 down after 18 minutes when Janeiro Tucker fired a fierce shot past the `keeper only to be flagged offside.

The away team began to get their act together after that, and Raymond Beach's first time shot from distance shaved the post, though `keeper Jason Smith will say he had it covered.

Two minutes later Devon Brangman's cross-cum-shot clipped the top of the bar and had to be put out for a corner.

Galvin Butterfield, having evaded two Town tackles, then put his shot were Beach's had gone earlier.

Intricate play between Heys Wolfe, Yusef Pitt and Beach almost opened up the Town defence inside the box in the 38th minute but although their work went unrewarded in that instance, Cougars were to profit two minutes later. Beach, with his back to goal, swivelled and shot in one movement, the ball evading the grasp of Brangman.

The timing of the goal, minutes before half-time, was crucial for Cougars who were able to go in at the break fired up and with the knowledge that they were very much back in the match.

The momentum continued to swing their way after the restart, and Beach should have done better than to fire over from eight yards after Wolfe had laid the ball on a plate for him from the byline.

In the 53rd minute the importance of the occasion threatened to boil over when Kwame Steede and Reggie Tucker were involved in a scuffle.

Tucker was fouled by Steede and the two collapsed in a heap. As the Cougars player got up, he reacted as if Tucker had raked him across the throat, but instead of letting referee Cornell Castle sort matters out he took vengeance of his own, throwing his rival to the ground.

Castle, who refereed the game in a sensible manner throughout, deemed Steede's aggression worthy of a yellow card.

Town took off Janeiro Tucker and replaced him up front with Wolde Place but the action was to be found down the other end.

With 16 minutes left Town were once again unable to clear their lines and Shawn Smith fired home from through several players' legs after a scramble in Town had a chance to snatch it at the death, but Seyoum Tuzo's low rapier-like cross was a yard in front of Reggie Tucker and a yard behind Place.

In the end a draw was a fair result but Cougars will be regretting handing Town the initiative so early on, a faux pas that made their evening's work that much harder and ultimately left Village as the ones with the broadest smiles.

Dandy Town: J.Smith; K.Mundy; L.Furbert; C.Lloyd; R.Swan (M.Lowe, 85 mins); B.O'Riordan; S.Tuzo (K.Hurdle, 87 mins); C.Smith; R.Tucker; J.Tucker (W.Place, 62 mins); G.Foggo.

Dev.Cougars: R.Brangman; S.Smith; G.Butterfield (M.Smith, 50 mins); J.Deshields; O.Butterfield; W.Salaam (D.Trott, 78 mins); K.Steede; D.Brangman; H.Wolfe; R.Beach (L.Tota, 90 mins); Y.Pitt.

Booked: G.Foggo (Town); K.Steede (Cougars).

Men of the match: B.O'Riordan (Town); S.Smith (Cougars).

Referee: C.Castle.