Hard-working Trojans reap Trophy reward
Devonshire Cougars 0
Having come into this New Year’s Day clash unbeaten in the competition following wins over North Village and Boulevard, Kwame Steede’s Cougars were favourites by a considerable margin.
But when it mattered most, they failed to live up to their top billing.
Trojans, by contrast, lost their opening Dudley Eve match 1-0 to Boulevard and were called in on Christmas Day by coach Dennis Brown, aghast at his talented squad’s lack of consistency.
It was this drive to improve no matter what the cost that shone through in the first 25 minutes of the contest in front of at least 2,000 spectators on a glorious sunny day, as Trojans produced an electrifying spell of fluid, penetrative football to knock the stuffing out of Cougars right at the outset.
After only nine minutes, the superb Jelani Scott brought his Dudley Eve goalscoring tally to four in as many games with a powerful blast from 25 yards which took a slight deflection before it flew past helpless Cougars goalkeeper Darrell Clyde, while only moments later Bermuda international Steve Astwood claimed what was arguably the goal of the competition.
Strike partner Dion Stovell picked the ball up about 50 yards from goal before embarking on a sensational, surging run towards the box, skipping by at least four Cougars defenders on the way.
Sensible enough to look for support rather than go for goal himself, Stovell then offloaded cleverly to the onrushing Astwood, who lifted the ball over Clyde with the deftest of touches — after the ‘keeper had bizarrely remained on his line rather than rushing out to thwart the threat.
Ahead 2-0 inside the first half an hour, Trojans were purring with confidence — their passing and movement probably the best it’s been all season.
Central to this fluidity were Astwood, Scott and Stovell, who took advantage of the oceans of space afforded to them in the centre of the park to bombard the defending champions with attack after attack.
It was hardly, surprising, therefore, that when Stovell was forced off the field just after the half hour mark with a tight hamstring, Trojans retreated slightly into their shell — though such was the impotence of the opposition, it hardly mattered.
Though they certainly leaked goals in this competition, in each of their first two matches Cougars made up for this defensive frailty with some attacking displays of an impressively high quality. But on finals day their star names simply weren’t at the races, with Steede and the usually-electric Domico Coddington becoming increasingly frustrated as the match wore on with their inability to impose themselves in any way on the game.
Indeed, having found the net three times in the preceding round against Boulevard at St. David’s, on his second visit to the East End in a week the Cougars captain couldn’t buy a goal — twice missing the target in the second half with unopposed headers that cried out to be buried.
And the boys from the Den were certainly made to pay for their wasteful and leaden-footed performance with a little over ten minutes to go, as Astwood doubled his goal tally with a powerful volley — hit first-time after controlling a cross expertly on his chest — to put the game well and truly beyond doubt.
“One of the things we talked about last night was the importance of scoring an early goal against a team like Cougars,” said a delighted coach Brown afterwards, having just been showered in water by one of his jubilant charges.
“We felt if we came out fast at them and got an early goal, then we would be well-placed to go on and win the match. Credit to the guys, they came out and did exactly what we asked of them and after that, everything pretty much went according to plan.”
Brown admitted that his side’s form has been a little too up and down for his liking this season, but said he was happy with the determination of the players to turn things around.
“There’s no doubt we have some talented players in this squad, but sometimes we don’t do that talent justice,” he said.
“I was really unhappy with the performance against Boulevard (in the opening round) and we really needed to get our heads together. Christmas Day was the only day we would have an opportunity to do that, so I asked the guys to come in and to their credit they responded.
“It really does show that if you’re prepared to work hard, to go that extra mile when it might not be convenient, to have that drive and determination to succeed, then in the end it will usually pay off.
“I’m very proud of them all — they deserve this success.”
Meanwhile, defending champions Wolves beat Devonshire Colts on penalty kicks in the First Division final earlier in the day.
The teams were locked at 3-3 after a pulsating, topsy-turvy 90 minutes before Colts’ Shannon Burgess and Darren Williams both missed their spot kicks to hand Wolves victory.
In normal time, Keimon Lawrence gave Colts the lead in the 13th minute before striker Aljame Zuill doubled the advantage just after half-time.
Vincent Minors jr then pulled one back for Wolves, before Zuill restored the two-goal cushion on 55 minutes.
Unperturbed, Wolves continued to attack — a tactic which paid dividends as Minors completed his hat-trick to draw the teams level.
Somerset Trojans: A.Burrows, M.Butterfield, J.Tucker, S.Simmons, D.Burgess (D.Basden 75 mins), J.Scott, N.Wade (Q.Aberdeen 63 mins), J.Butterfield, S.Astwood, D.Stovell (R.Wilson 28 mins), A.Lamb
Devonshire Cougars<$>: D.Clyde, J.Butterfield, I.Mallory (K.Goddard), J.DeShields, D.Cox, A.Gibbons, D.Coddington, R.Robinson (R.Beach 45 mins), K.Steede, C.Caisey, S.Minors (K.Bean mins)
Yellow cards: <$>D.Burgess (Trojans), K.Bean (Cougars)
Man of the Ma: S.Astwood (Trojans)
Referee: Leroy Wilson
