North Village 2 Devonshire Cougars 1

North Village kept their slim Premier Division title hopes alive when they fought from a goal down to conquer Devonshire Cougars at Bernard Park last night.

Jordan Outerbridge provided assists for both goals, Seke Spence’s equaliser in the 55th minute and London Steede-Jackson’s winner in the 79th. Domico Coddington had given Cougars the lead in the nineteenth.

The win lifted Village to 19 points, three behind leaders Dandy Town, who are in action against fellow title contenders Devonshire Colts at White Hill Field tomorrow.

Outerbridge was pleased to weigh in with the assists to a winning cause.

“Two assists, it's a good contribution to the team,” Outerbridge told The Royal Gazette.

“Coming into the game tonight after two losses, we knew that this was a must-win. We were trailing at half-time, so we showed a lot of character and resilience today, great to get the job done, on to the next one.

“It was a tough one, Cougars put in a shift, but we showed in the second half that we’re North Village. When the going gets hard, we came out tonight.

“We just have to go into each game and win it now, then see what happens with the rest of the games.”

Village, without regular starters Jonté Smith and Jalen Harvey, were the first to have a sight of goal in the second minute. Cougars goalkeeper Chazz Knight used his feet to keep out Jaizel Smith-DeShields’s effort from an Outerbridge free kick.

In the fourth minute, Village captain Detre Bell was forced into a low save by Chae Brangman. A minute later, Zari Simmons’s glancing header went over from a Charmari Burns corner kick.

Mikel Thomas provided the assist for the opening goal after winning possession in the middle of the park, sent a long ball for Coddington, with the veteran forward outpacing Justin Sukdeo to bury the ball on the far post.

Village were forced into an early substitution with Jai Bean limping off with what appeared to be a hamstring in the 23rd, to be replaced by Pierre Smith.

Tah-mi Williams almost gifted Cougars with a goal in the 36th minute as he gave the ball away to Charmari Burns, but recovered to shield Bell's goal.

On the other end of the field, Smith went wide off target from an immaculate cross delivered into the box by Steede-Jackson.

Bell made a brilliant stop to keep out Browne’s ferocious strike to Village to remain within touching distance of their opponents.

Village came back rejuvenated in the second-half. They equalised ten minutes after the interval as Spence headed in Outerbridge’s inch-perfect cross from the left.

Brangman could have restored the Cougars’ lead, but watched in agony as his shot sailed wide after beating the offside trap.

Outerbridge provided his second assist of the match with 11 minutes left, with another delivery down the left, finished off in style by London Steede-Jackson for the winner.

Cougars had chances to equalise, or even win it right at the end with Bell producing a point-blank save deep into stoppage time to deny Coddington.

SCORERS

North Village: Spence 55, Steede-Jackson 79

Devonshire Cougars: Coddington 19

TEAMS

North Village (3-4-2-1): D Bell 6 — T Williams 6 (sub: K Harrison, 85), Q Outerbridge 6, J Sukdeo 6 — L Steede-Jackson 7 (sub: K Knights, 85), S Spence 7, J Chapman 6 (sub: T Tucker, 90), — J Outerbridge 8, A Dill 6, J Smith-DeShields 6 (sub: I Simmons, 90),–J Bean 5 (sub: P Smith: 23 min, 6). Substitutes not used: J Hayward, KCann. Booked: Chapman, J Outerbridge

Devonshire Cougars (4-2-3-1): C Knight 6 — T Tucker 6, L Millett 6, J Thomas 6 (sub: M Mills, 71), J Wilson-Butterfield 6 (sub: C Albouy, 71) — M Thomas 6, Zari Simmons 6 — D Coddington 7, C Burns 6, K Browne 6 — Chae Brangman 6. Substitutes not used: O Smith, Zion Simmons, J Darrell, Cashun Brangman. Booked: Burns, Albouy, Zari Simmons

Referee: M Al-Ayass (Canada).