Devonshire Cougars 1 Devonshire Colts 1

Devonshire Colts made it to the top of the Premier Division last night but were left frustrated after failing to capitalise on their dominance against Devonshire Cougars at Devonshire Rec on Friday night.

Colts dominated the opening minutes and took a deserved lead in the twentieth minute from the penalty spot after Canadian referee Renzo Villanueva spotted a handball in the box by Mikel Thomas.

Colts captain Jorj Dublin kept his composure to send Cougars goalkeeper Chazz Knight the wrong way and his side should have doubled their lead after a good build-up down the right flank but Chemarl Henry slammed over the top from close range.

Cougars’ burly striker Chae Brangman turned defender to keep his team in the match when he sacrificed his body to block former Cougar Elisha Darrell’s goalbound blast after he collected a loose ball from a corner.

Cougars started the second half with purpose and levelled the score within minutes with a clinical finish. Mosiais Mills lifted a perfectly floated free kick to the back post, where captain Zari Simmons jumped unchallenged to bury a powerful diving header beyond stranded Colts goalkeeper Jaden Mills-Furbert.

Colts thought they had scored from the resulting kick-off when Darrell wove his way through the Cougars defence only for goalkeeper Knight to make a foot save to block his goalbound effort.

A three-pass combination involving Henry, Senoj Mitchell and Zuhri Burgess resulted in the latter getting off a firm drive but Knight was again equal to the task with an acrobatic save, diving to his right to pull the ball in.

Cougars nearly won the match at the death when substitute Domico Coddington headed Kydan Browne’s corner downward only for Mills-Furbert to make a reflex save to save his team’s blushes and secure the one-point to send them to the top of the table.

SCORERS

Devonshire Cougars: Zari Simmons 51

Devonshire Colts: Dublin 20

Teams

Devonshire Cougars (4-2-3-1): C Knight 8 ― J Wilson-Butterfield 6, L Millett 6, J Thomas 7, O Smith 5 (sub: D Coddington, 68min 6) ― Zari Simmons 7, M Thomas 6 ― K Browne 5, M Mills 6 (sub: Zion Simmons, 90), C Burns 6 ― C Brangman 7. Substitutes not used: A Daniels, C Brangman. Booked: Brangman

Devonshire Colts (4-2-3-1): J Mills-Furbert 8 ― D Ball 6, J Dublin 7, S Burgess 6, J Paynter 7 ― J Bean-Lindo 5 (sub: K Burch, 76), Z Burgess 6 ― C Henry 6, S Mitchell 6, E Darrell 6 (sub: J Jackson, 85) ― J Samuels 6. Substitutes not used: A Van Duyne, S Robinson, A Hart, S Blair-Paynter.

Referee: R Villanueva (Canada)