PHC 0 Devonshire Cougars 2

Devonshire Cougars outplayed PHC Zebras to record an entertaining 2-0 victory at PHC stadium on Saturday night.

First-half goals from Domico Coddington and Samario Valasse-Paul were sufficient to collect all three points for the away side. but it was the performance of veteran goalkeeper Daniel Johnson that ensured Cougars picked up three points, much to the delight of new coach Jensen Rogers.

“We knew that they had speed and were going to come at us hard,” Rogers said.

“It was a good team effort as we helped each other when defending to shut them down.”

The coach also praised goalkeeper Johnson’s performance.

“We have three goalkeepers but Daniel brings a wealth of knowledge and experience so tonight we wanted to kick-start our season,” Rogers said. “He had a splendid performance and came through.”

The game started at a quick pace with Cougars having the first chance as early as the fifth minute when Christian Albuoy collected a free kick and shot at goal, only for PHC goalkeeper Quinaceo Hunt to spread his body wide to make a point-blank save.

PHC nearly scored from the resulting corner when goalkeeper Hunt caught the cross and released Daniel Cook. His low cross found Jeze Butterfield but Johnson was equal to the task, diving full length to palm his firm drive away.

Minutes later, Cougars would open the scoring. A low cross from the right flank found another veteran, striker Domico Coddington, who outran his marker to sidefoot beyond the stranded Hunt.

PHC nearly scored midway through the half but captain Enrique Russell’s free kick missed the top right corner by inches.

Cougars doubled their lead just before the half when Charmari Burns’ cross was allowed to bounce to the back post where Samario Valasse-Paul controlled before beating his marker and blasted home from close range.

The second half started with Cougars still dominating play. Chae Brangman nearly extended the advantage but his scorcher from 25 yards skimmed the bar as is it went over.

Substitute Killian Elkinson missed a golden opportunity to pull one back for PHC when he was on the end of Joshua Joseph’s inch-perfect cross but from three yards out he somehow mis-hit his shot, which sailed back across the goalmouth.

Cougars continued to press and nearly scored a third but substitute Justin Bell’s curling shot from 20 yards out struck the crossbar before going over.

PHC’s Jaheim Iris had his goalbound shot blocked and with time running down, Johnson again proved his worth when he was well positioned to make a reflex foot save to deny Russell’s well-struck effort to secure the shutout.

Goals

Devonshire Cougars: Coddington 9, Valasse-Paul 40

Teams

PHC Zebras: Q Hunt, Z Lee, S Simmons, E King-Mills, D Smith-Lightbourne, S Burrows, K White, J Butterfield, D Cook, J Joseph, E Russell. Substitutes: K Abraham, T Davis, J Hassell, T Place, K Elkinson, J Franco, J Ebbin. Booked: King-Mills.

Devonshire Cougars: D Johnson, Zion Simmons, J Thomas, Zari Simmons, C Burns, M Thomas, K Bean, C Albuoy, S Valasse-Paul, D Coddington, C Brangman. Substitutes: J Bell, M Mills, Q Lambert, N Carmichael, J Darrell. Booked: J Rogers (Coach)

Referee: D Parchment