Devonshire Colts 3 Devonshire Cougars 2

Jorj Dublin’s 89th-minute header secured a come-from-behind victory for Devonshire Colts over ten-man Devonshire Cougars at Police Field on Sunday.

Llineiko Millett turned from hero to villain after scoring the opening goal for Cougars in the seventeenth minute before he was shown a straight red card seven minutes before the break.

Daniel Ball and Elisha Darrell’s goals gave Colts the lead but Mosiais Mills must have thought he had earned Cougars a point when he struck four minutes for time, but Dublin’s 89th minute header won it for Colts.

While happy to pick up his second win of the season, Colts coach Ray Jones was not too pleased with his team’s display.

“It was a bit of a scrappy performance that left a lot to be desired,” Jones told The Royal Gazette.

“I think the red card probably swung the game in our favour as we scored back-to-back quickly after the red card.

“We scored directly from the free kick and then right at the stroke of the half to take the lead. We wanted to control the tempo a bit and they played a bit more transitional football. We fell into the trap, you could see the game was going back and forth, there was not a lot of control by us.

“When they got the equaliser, we showed a lot of character to push and go right back up to get the three points.

“Dandy Town dropped points on Friday, so we wanted to see if we could close the gap. At a minimum we achieved that goal, but the performance was not that appealing.

“We’ll be back on the training pitch trying to correct that for the next game next week. I look for more consistency in the performance.

“It’s not just the points, performances are important as well, especially at this stage of the season because it will carry you as the season goes along. Today was probably the worst play for us if we are to be honest as far as how we want to play with control, tempo and rhythm.”

New Cougars coach Mark Mills, whose side has picked up just one point from two matches, believes that it is too early to press the panic button.

“It was a tough game to lose,” he said.

“I felt for the style of football we played, we were already half behind the ball when we came up to play on this grass up here.

“It was terrible, but it was a good game of football. We went down in the first half, fought to come back and showed good endeavour, but just got undone in the last minute.

“Having one man down, coupled with us chasing the game, we had too many men forward on that little sequence of play where we conceded. It’s a lesson to take and I’m looking forward to playing them again.

“We’ve not had an ideal start, but it’s a long season. The league’s never won in October, so there’s still a lot to play for.”

After an uneventful opening quarter of an hour, Cougars surged ahead when Millett made a perfect connection with Domico Coddington’s cross from the left.

Referee Kwinsi Williams, who was the man in the middle when PHC goalkeeper Quinaceo Hunt scored a controversial equaliser against Dandy Town on Friday night. reached for his back pocket to send off Millett in the 38th minute. The defender tripped Darrell, who had been put through by Colts captain Teniko Eve.

From the resultant free kick, Ball stepped up to equalise and Colts went into the break in the lead when Darrell struck from Jomei Bean-Lindo’s corner.

Chae Brangman had a great opportunity to bring Cougars level in the 49th minute, only for the big forward to blast his effort over.

Mills tested Colts goalkeeper Jaden Mills-Furbert with a stinging shot from outside the box in the 72nd minute and a minute later Coddington’s attempt at goal did not have enough power to trouble Mills-Furbert.

With four minutes left, Mills struck the equaliser from a free kick on the edge of the box, which went in vin a deflection.

But just as the game looke to be heading for a draw, Dublin reacted swiftly to a cross from substitute Jahzardae Samuels to head in the winner.

SCORERS

Devonshire Colts: Ball 40, Darrell 45+1, Dublin 89

Devonshire Cougars: Millett 17, Mills 86

TEAMS

Devonshire Colts (4-3-3): J Mills-Furbert 6 — J Burgess 6, J Dublin 7, M Isaac 6, F Lema 6 (sub: D Davis, 63min 5) — Z Burgess 6, J Bean-Lindo 6 (sub: J Samuels, 63 6), D Ball 7 (sub: J Jackson, 84) — E Darrell 7, T Eve 6 (sub: K Burch, 63 5), S Mitchell 6. Substitutes not used: S Blair-Paynter, D Jackson, A Van Duyne. Booked: Samuels

Devonshire Cougars (4-3-3): C Knight 5 — T Tucker 6, M Turner 6, L Millet 5, J Wilson-Butterfield 6 (sub: Zion Simmons, 64 5) — M Thomas 6 (sub: A Daniels, 64 5), Zari Simmons 6 (sub: O Smith, 84), M Mills 7 — D Coddington 6, C Burns 5 (sub: J Thomas, 44 5), C Brangman 6 (sub: C Albouy, 84). Substitutes not used: Q Darrell, J Brimmer. Booked: Thomas. Sent off: Millett

Referee: K Williams (Trinidad & Tobago).