North Village 2 Devonshire Cougars 2

It was billed as a proverbial six-pointer but in the end Rams and Cougars had to grudgingly settle with a point apiece.

The only team benefiting from this tense stalemate was the one these title hopefuls are desperately looking to leapfrog before the season's curtain call.

Yes, it was certainly a profitable weekend for relentless tabletoppers Zebras who took a giant stride towards championship glory after Rams and Cougars cancelled each other out.

It was defending champions Cougars who made the early inroads at Bernard Park yesterday with pacey winger Domico Coddington the chief beneficiary of some calamitous Village defending to give his side the lead midway through the first-half.

But Rams soon struck back through the ever-impressive Keishen Bean who kept his nerve to place his shot past veteran keeper Dwayne Adams to give the scoreline parity at half-time.

The second stanza continued in the same rhythm with both teams launching alternate attacks as each defence looked likely to crumble at any given moment.

Lamont Brangman restored Cougars advantage when he caught Village's back-line dreaming once again and flicked a bouncing ball over onrushing keeper Jason Williams, who had just received treatment for a head injury.

But again Shawn Smith's side were unable to hold onto their lead and allowed Village to haul themselves level minutes later through super-sub Nakia Smith who finished off Keishen Bean's low driven cross.

The move saw Bean demonstrate all his attributes, using his strength to keep his marker at bay, who he rolled off as he surged into the box before demonstrating his awareness with a pin-point delivery.

With the partisan crowd urging them on, Village could have grabbed an all important win and twice went close through Bean and skipper Ralph Bean, who both shot wide from difficult angles.

Coach Elliott Jennings remained upbeat despite his side now trailing PHC by six points with just three games outstanding on the Premier Division calendar.

"The match could have gone either way and we could have snatched at the end," he said. "It's not a bad result considering we have a patched up team as we're missing some key players through injury. Our quality is being stretched at the moment.

"The title race is not over yet. It's still alive and there are points to play for."

North Village: J.Williams, R.Wilson, D.Edwards (M.Dill 69), M.Hansey, S.Goater (N.Smith 63), J.Jennings, M.Godley (J.Dill 85), S.DeGraff, R.Spence, R.Bean, K.Bean

Devonshire Cougars: D.Adams, D.Cox, J.Simmons, I.Mallory, M.Steede, A.Gibbons, R.Robinson, J.Butterfield, L.Brangman (T.Steede 80), K.Steede, D.Coddington

Referee: L.Raynor

Yellow Cards: M. Godley (North Village), S.DeGraff (North Village), R.Spence (North Village)

Man-of-the-Match: K.Bean (North Village)