Young Men’s Social Club 4 Devonshire Cougars 1

Zeiko Lewis scored two goals in seven second-half minutes as Young Men's Social Club braved the elements to cruise past Devonshire Cougars at Police Field yesterday.

Ryan Parris and Josh Hardtman scored Social Club’s other goals with Mosias Mills scoring a late consolation for Cougars past stand-in goalkeeper Clay Darrell, who is usually scoring goals as a striker rather than stopping shots.

Adapting to the weather conditions proved crucial, according to Social Club coach Michael Smith.

“Conditions played a part,” he said. “We adapted slightly faster than our opponent and I give credit to my team for playing an exceptional game. Clay Darrell did a great job as to go from striker to goalkeeper and stay strong mentally is not an easy task.”

The home side had the advantage of playing into the less prevalent wind for the first half and controlled the game for large periods as Cougars failed to play their way through the compact Social Club shape.

But Social Club struggled to make their dominance count in the final third, although their direct approach was causing the Cougars defence all sorts of problems. They finally broke through on 16 minutes from a free kick on the right edge of the penalty area. Giniko Butterfield clipped the ball into the six-yard box, where captain Ryan Parris powered a header into the near post unchallenged.

Social Club found their second goal seven minutes later when creative spark Zeiko Lewis fed a beautifully whipped pass into the right channel for Josh Hardtman, who drove into space before smashing into the roof of the net from a tight angle eight yards out.

Cougars continued to play out from the back, but never broke the lines as Social Club held firm in two blocks of four, although they did have the odd moment in the final third when they played over the two forwards. Kydan Browne cracked the crossbar from 25 yards out with a rasping drive ten minutes before the break.

Wide players Charmari Burns and Mosias Mills were largely nullified in their attempts to threaten the home side's back line and Social Club deservedly retained their two-goal cushion to the interval.

Social Club’s top scorer Lewis turned from provider to clinical finisher with two goals in seven minutes either side of the hour. First, Hardtman played a beautiful through ball to Lewis, who took one touch before cutting a lovely finish into the bottom corner past Cougars goalkeeper Ricardo Brangman.

Hardtman’s younger sibling Mical then clipped a neat pass over the Cougars defence for Lewis, who beat the offside trap to control and side-foot into the same corner past Brangman, killing the match as a contest.

Both teams made wholesale changes thereafter and Cougars captain Domico Coddington had a good chance to pull one back but dragged his curling effort wide of the near post from about 20 yards.

Social Club substitute Malique Wilson should have made it five with about six minutes remaining but skewed his effort in the air after being picked out on the right by Kimshun Smith.

Cougars grabbed a consolation two minutes from time after striker Chae Brangman was taken down on the right by Lewis. Mills used the wind to his advantage and drove the resulting set-piece into the near post, with the breeze carrying it beyond the dive of Darrell.

SCORERS

Young Men’s Social Club: Parris 16; J Hardtman 23; Lewis 60, 67

Devonshire Cougars: Mills 88

TEAMS

Young Men’s Social Club (4-2-3-1): C Darrell 7 — J Smith 6 (sub: E Mensah, 83min), A Daniels 7, Z Jennings-Barnett 6 (sub: T Butterfield, 73), K Smith 7 — R Parris 7, J Johnston 6 — M Hardtman 6 (sub: B Swan Jr, 73), G Butterfield 6 (sub: M Wilson 83), Z Lewis 8 — J Hardtman 7 (sub: Keshon Butterfield, 83). Substitutes not used: A Matthews.

Devonshire Cougars (4-2-3-1): R Brangman 5 — J Wilson-Butterfield 6 (sub: J Thomas, 59 5), L Millett 5, J Fox 6 (sub: C Brangman, 73), M Turner 6 (sub: Z Simmons, 73) — M Thomas 5, K Browne 6 — M Mills 6, D Coddington 5, C Burns 5 (sub: C Albouy, 59 5) — C Brangman 5. Substitutes not used: A Daniels.

Referee: A Francis.