Devonshire Cougars 5 Devonshire Colts 1

Drewonde Bascome, the Devonshire Cougars midfielder, inspired his side to a crushing win over parish neighbours Devonshire Colts in the FA Cup first round yesterday.

Bascome was a constant thorn in Colts’s side, scoring two goals and earning Cougars a penalty, as the hosts brushed aside their First Division Colts opponents at Devonshire Recreation Club.

Cougars did the brunt of the damage during a dominant first half with a brace by Mark Steede and a penalty from Moses Steede and Bascome to leave Colts with a proverbial mountain to climb after the break. Kyle Jones, the Colts striker, scored his team’s only goal with a close range header to quickly cancel out Mark Steede’s ninth minute opener.

Bascome bagged his second soon after the restart when he twisted and turned his way through Colts’ leaden-footed defence before curling an effort past goalkeeper Gregory Rose. At least Colts managed to stem the flow of goals in the second period and to their credit showed plenty of fight until the final whistle, an admirable attribute which should bode well for their promotion push.

Jones came the closest to adding another for Colts with a neat turn and shot on the edge of the area, which flew just wide of Kioshi Trott’s left-hand post.

Midfield workhorse Eurique Wilkin also tried his luck from long range with an effort which had plenty of venom but lacked sufficient direction to trouble the Cougars goalkeeper. Cougars appeared to take their foot of the piston as the second half wore on, no doubt mindful of keeping their power dry as they approach the business end season.

Despite being five points adrift of leaders Dandy Town, Cougars have not given up on defending their title although Dennis Brown, their coach, admits the FA Cup has grown in importance for his side.

“We still have an outside shot at the league, but this was one of the trophies that we won last season and we will try to defend it,” Brown said.

“It was up and down for us today,” he said.

“I thought we started a bit slow and, despite taking an early lead, we were a bit lethargic.

“We finished the half strongly but then took our foot of the gas in the second half. In the end, we’re in the next round of the competition and this victory certainly gives us a boost for the rest of the season.”