White-hot Dandy Town blasted an early season warning to their rivals with a demolition job on lowly Devonshire Cougars at the Rec. yesterday.

Cougars were stung by two early goals from the Hornets' Reggie Tucker and Dano Outerbridge, both inside 24 minutes.

And the visitors were so in control that it was a surprise they had to wait until 67 minutes to add a third, Tucker notching his second goal from close range.

The fourth, a fearless header by the impressive Darron Simons with 10 minutes left, was sandwiched by two far-post headers for Cougars, allowing the home side a flattering scoreline.

They had pulled back to 3-1 after 76 minutes, when substitutes Cory Goddard and Ryan Swan combined for the former to head home unmarked.

Then, with almost the last touch of the match, Galvin Butterfield popped up to nod in a hopeful punt forward.

For most of the match, Cougars were comprehensively dominated by a tidy Town team which threatened to score on almost every attack.

They possess pace in just about every position -- a factor which struck fear into Cougars, who spent long spells playing in their own half, struggling to string together more than two passes.

Town's disappointment must have been that they let in two soft goals.

And one of those strikes came as such a surprise right at the end of the match that half the crowd didn't even see the ball cross the line.

Another disappointment for the Hornets' fans was that the late introduction of Chris Anderson meant goals-hero Reggie Tucker had to drop into a midfield role, damaging his chances of a hat-trick.

On 20 minutes, he slammed home from 10 yards after good work by Devarr Boyles, who just got the nod as man-of-the-match for intelligent passing and constant harrying.

Tucker's second was a right-footed tap-in on the edge of the six-yard box, following a low Simons cross from the left.

The three musketeers -- Tucker, Boyles and Simons -- carved out the second goal with a carefully-crafted build-up which led to a push and a free kick just outside the penalty area.

Dano Outerbridge curled a low shot around the wall and beat the outstretched fingertips of Ricardo Brangman from 20 yards.

Simons completed Dandy Town's goalscoring by throwing himself in front of a defender from Boyle's free kick, directing his header into the bottom right-hand corner.

So much for Dandy Town's demolition skills -- now they must show if they can build a team to challenge for the league.

Devonshire Cougars: R.Brangman, C.Smith, D.Trott, S.Smith, W.Swan, G.Butterfield, G.Dyer, J.Smith (R.Swan 61 mins), D.Bean, M.Smith (K.Saltus 61 mins), J.Butterfield (C.Goddard 46 mins) Dandy Town: J.Smith, W.Rudo, D.Outerbridge, S.Simmons (E.Bean 46 mins), L.Christopher, D.Boyles, C.Wilkinson (M.Trott 71 mins), P.Cann (C.Anderson 83 mins), K.Martin, D.Simons, R.Tucker Referee: Cal Simons Men of the match: Cory Smith (Cougars); Devarr Boyles (Dandy Town).