Cougars denied by late Dickinson goal
Devonshire Cougars 1
The boys from the Den took the lead midway through the second half via a strike from the predatory Raymond Beach, but late pressure from the home side proved too much for them to handle.
Cougars therefore remain in third position, three points shy of Boulevard and four back from a resurgent North Village.
On such a quagmire of a pitch — saturated by last week’s consistently heavy rain — it was a sure bet that the play would be disjointed and scrappy.
Even still, the standard of football in the first half was alarmingly poor, as both sides struggled to carve out any genuine chances of note. Attack after attack broke down in the final phase, with that killer pass or cross almost always lacking.
And it was much the same story after the break, as skilful players such as Cougars captain Kwame Steede found it difficult to impose themselves on the game because of the slippery surface.
But just when the match looked to be heading towards a painfully dull draw, a long ball over the top caught the Town defence napping and allowed burly substitute Reggie Baker to find some precious space down the right flank.
Cutting in towards goal, Baker rode a hefty challenge before unleashing a powerful shot which Town ‘keeper Jason Smith did well to stop low to his right.
The rebound, however, fell straight back into the path of Baker, whose follow-up shot was also blocked — only to fall at the feet of the waiting Beach, who had the simplest of tasks slotting the ball into an empty net from five yards out.
Having defended robustly up to that point, as the players tired on the energy-sapping pitch the game predictably became more stretched, and Town at last were able to ask some questions of the Cougars back four.
Dickinson squandered what was arguably the best chance of the entire game after 70 minutes when he blazed a shot over from ten yards having been found totally unmarked by a low cross from the left.
But he made amends for that blunder around ten minutes later when, having made a darting run towards the near post, he met another cross from the left with a beautiful glancing header which fizzed across Ricky Brangman in the Cougars goal and nestled in the bottom corner.
Dandy Town: J.Smith, S.Tuzo, K.Simmons, T.Russell, S.Smith, O.Steede, M.Parsons (J.Dickinson 70 mins), J.Peniston, H.Wolfe, M.Smith (C.Smith 66 mins), L.Holder (L.Dill 66 mins>
Devonshire Cougars: <$>R.Brangman, J.Butterfield (A.Gibbons 75 mins), O.Butterfield, D.Cox, I.Mallory M.Smith (R.Baker 49 mins), C.Caisey, K.Tucker, R.Beach, K.Steede, K.Bean
Yellow d: R.Baker (Cougars)
Men of the Match<$>: J.Dickinson (Town), I.Mallory (Cougars)
Referee: Lyndon Raynor
St.David’s can no longer catch sixth-placed PHC who moved onto 14 points — the maximum amount Paget can obtain.
Zebras, however, have a superior goal difference (minus four) to that of Lions (minus 39) with two matches remaining in the league season. And barring a major catastrophe, Kyle Lightbourne’s men are assured of retaining their Premier Division status for another 12 months.
Lions battled hard and should have capitalised on a few chances while Zebras had a penalty shout fall on deaf ears in the first half.
But the home eventually gained control of the match in the second half and created a few scoring chances of their own.
It ultimately took Shakir’s spot kick, however, to separate the two clubs. Referee Ronue Cann penalised Paget player/coach Marvin Belboda for tripping PHC captain Blenn Bean in the box, and Shakir made no mistake with his effort.
[bul] The Premier Division match involving Somerset Trojans and St.David’s scheduled for Somerset Cricket Club yesterday did not get underway due to the unavailability of a referee.
