St George’s 2 Devonshire Cougars 0

St George’s advanced into the semi-final of the FA Cup with victory over a toothless Devonshire Cougars at Wellington Oval on Sunday.

Goals on either side of half time by captain Blaiz Hall and midfielder Leroy Lewis were enough to see the East Enders through.

Coach Drewonde Bascome, who was a member of the FA Cup winning St George’s team in 2024, is hoping to achieve another victory as coach and is already looking forward to the semi-final.

“Today was a good win for us,” Bascome said. “We are looking forward to the next round no matter who we get drawn against. I won this trophy as a player and now I would like to win it as a coach ― that would be quite pleasing.”

Cougars sounded an early warning straight from the opening whistle when Christian Albuoy played a weighted pass into the path of striker Chae Brangman. He struck a low drive on the run forcing St George’s goalkeeper Tahj Bell to dive to his left and tip the ball around the post.

Minutes later Bell was called into action again when he made a reflex save to push Cougars captain Zari Simmons’ glancing header from a Jecoa Thomas cross around the post.

On the 20-minute mark, Bell pulled up with an injury to his left ankle, which was heavily strapped. He displayed the heart of a true stallion, playing on with a noticeable limp despite hardly being able to stand for the remainder of the match.

Thomas tried to capitalise on Bell’s vulnerability with a long-range shot which skimmed the crossbar as Bell remained flat-footed.

Despite Cougars’ dominance, it was St. George’s who opened the scoring just before the interval when Malachi Trott robbed Thomas and slipped a pass to Hall, who dribbled before picking his spot and slotting to the left of stranded Cougars goalkeeper Chazz Knight.

Jahron Dickinson should have doubled the lead when Leroy Lewis Jr put him through but he sliced wide from close range under pressure as St George’s turned up the heat to bring the half to a close.

The home side kept up the intensity at the start of the second half and were almost gifted a second by the Cougars goalkeeper. Knight advanced outside of his box and tried to beat an attacker only to get robbed. The ball was played to Lewis who rolled a weak shot towards goal which allowed centre-back Llineiko Millett to recover and clear to safety.

With Bell still hobbling, Albuoy tried a long-range shot which sailed over the top before a low drive from substitute Mosias Mills forced Bell to dive low to save, after which he appeared in considerable pain.

Cougars thought they had found the equaliser midway through the second half when Brangman controlled at the back post and tapped in but the goal was ruled out as he was penalised for a foul.

Any thoughts of a Cougars comeback were squashed moments later when Knight committed another defensive blunder. St George’s cleared their lines with a long kick forward and Lewis went in pursuit. Knight advanced out of his goal and got to the ball first but he missed his kick to leave Lewis the easiest of tasks to slot the ball home into an empty net.

Cougars had one last chance for a late consolation but Bell was mobile enough to move to his left to punch away Millett’s goalbound header and send his team through into the next round.

SCORERS

St George’s: B Hall 41, L Lewis 76

Teams

St. George’s (4-2-3-1): T Bell 8 ― J Schroder 6, N Paynter 7, L Evans 7, M Nisbett-Tankard 6 (sub: I Gibbons, 68min 5) ― R Phipps 7 (sub: I Greaves, 69 5), C Neal 7--- J Dickinson 6, B Hall 7 (sub: M Tucker, 89), Lewis 7 ― M Trott. Substitutes not used: J Dill, T Hall, K Minors. Booked: Hall.

Devonshire Cougars (4-2-3-1): C Knight 4 ― T Tucker 5, M Turner 6, L Millett 6, J Wilson-Butterfield 5 (sub: M Mills, 55 6) ― J Thomas 7, M Thomas 6 (sub: D Coddington, 78) ― C Albuoy 6 (sub: Cashun Brangman, 78), Zari Simmons 6, C Burns 5 (sub: J Fox, 55 5) --- Chae Brangman 6. Substitutes not used: O Smith, Zion Simmons A Daniels. Booked: Millett, Turner.

Referee: D Jackson