Devonshire Colts 2

Devonshire Cougars 0

Just six days after winning their first Martonmere Cup, high-flying Cougars were brought down to earth by parish neighbours Devonshire Colts in this Premier Division clash at White Hill Field yesterday.

Goals in each half by Lloyd Holdipp and Quincy Aberdeen floored Cougars in a game that saw the visitors leave without a point despite never being outplayed by the home team for any significant period.

While Cougars had no difficulty advancing into their opponents' half, credit has to be given to Colts for holding Cougars' rampaging forwards at bay and Colts Kevin Bean was the busier of the two `keepers, dealing mainly with desperation angled shots fired in by Heys Wolffe.

Colts skipper Shannon Burgess, who helped to marshall a new look three-man defence that shut out Wolffe, Ray Beach and Mark Smith, was thrilled with the final result as his team moved into third place in the table.

"I think we really raised the level of our game today, the intensity was there from the start. Our coaches told us that if we matched our opponents' intensity from the get-go then we would be able to settle down and play football,"' said Burgess.

"Cougars came believing in themselves and rightly so. They are the Martonmere Cup champions and it's the first time they had tasted success. We knew they would run at us and we felt that if we held them we could then take some chances after about 15 minutes and that's what happened."

Colts absorbed a lot of early pressure, escaping after 15 minutes when Beach headed a Mark Smith cross just wide of the post from 12 yards.

But while that pressure stretched Colts' defence, they held their ground and stunned Cougars after 26 minutes when Lloyd Holdipp took advantage of a rearguard looking insecure without player-coach and centre-back Shawn Smith, and skilfully slipped between two defenders to drill home an angled shot from close range.

That goal inspired Colts who matched their opponents until the half although it was clearly Cougars who threatened more often with Wolffe and Beach causing concern.

When play restarted, Cougars stamped their authority on the game right away with Colts goalkeeper Bean forced to fall to his left to smother a fierce 14-yarder from Wolffe. A minute later Beach crossed from the left only to watch as the ball was missed by two forwards.

Gradually Colts skipper Burgess got his defence to settle and as they regained their composure, the momentum was taken away from Cougars.

Then Colts struck on the break, hard-working midfielder Kuma Smith creating the opening for Aberdeen to score from close range.

Cougars became a frustrated unit and were reduced to 10 men when substitute Jeremy DeShields was sent off by referee Stuart Crockwell for abusive language.

Devonshire Colts: K.Bean; Jermel Belboda, S.Burgess, M.Hollis; K.Burchall (G.Gibbons, 70 mins), R.Douglas (C.Hill, 69 mins), K.Smith, J.Dill (Jermaine Belboda, 81 mins); Q.Aberdeen, J.Aberdeen, L.Holdipp. Substitutes not used: Andre Hendrickson, D.Simmons. Booked: Dill.

Devonshire Cougars: R.Brangman; D.Brangman, G.Butterfield (J.Deshields, 35 mins), C.Smith, E.Richardson; J.Salaam, D.Eve, C.Darrell; R.Beach (K.Smith, 66 mins), M.Smith, H.Wolffe. Substitutes not used: L.Richardson, T.Lovitz. Booked: Wolffe. Sent off: DeShields.

Referee: Stuart Crockwell

Men of the match: Shannon Burgess (Colts); Earl Richardson (Cougars).