Devonshire Cougars 1 North Village 1

Champions aren't just the best side in the league, they're also invariably the luckiest, and in the past two weeks Devonshire Cougars have used up their fair share of luck and everyone elses besides.

Yesterday's game was heading for a draw when a long ball out of the Rams defence in the dying minutes found Jared Peniston free on the edge of the Cougars 18-yard box. With keeper Ricardo Brangman stranded in no-man's land Peniston lobbed the ball towards the empty net, it bounced inside the six-yard box, and then hit the crossbar before re-bounding into the grateful arms of Brangman.

After getting away with a penalty save when clearly off his line against PHC in the final minute last weekend, Brangman got lucky once more. A different decision last week, a sweeter bounce for Rams yesterday and the champagne that flowed at the Rec last night would have been drowning sorrows, not toasting a championship.

By such margins are champions made and while yesterday's score didn't exactly follow the script, it was a fair result in the circumstances.

Having gifted Rams the lead in the 16th minute through a Kijuan Franks own goal, Cougars spent the rest of the first half doing a passable impression of a side battling to avoid relegation. Whether it was the occasion, the end of a long season, or just a poor performance, Jason Williams in the Rams goal is unlikely to have had many quieter 45 minutes in his career.

And if Village could have made the most of some their chances the outcome could have been entirely different. But they didn't and Lamont Brangman drew the champions in-waiting level with an hour gone when Williams misjudged a cross and Brangman bundled the ball home from five yards out.

Cougars really should have put the game out of Village's reach from then on, but after scoring, Brangman then conspired to make a complete mess out of all the other chances that came his way. Not that anyone cared once the final whistle blew.

"We wanted to go out on a winning performance, and we couldn't get that today," said Cougars boss Devarr Boyles. "But overall it's been a fantastic year for us."

Boyles will now take up a job as Youth Director with the Bermuda Football Association and saw the championship as an ideal way to pay back a club he believes have helped him achieve what he has done.

"If you had offered me everything that has happened to me at the beginning of the year, I would have gladly taken it," he said. "I think me getting the BFA post has to some degree had to do with my work here at Cougars."

And Boyles believes this Cougars side can now go on and dominate the Premier Division for years to come.

"I think the infrastructure as far as going on is there. Today we had nine players in the side who were under 21, life can change, and you can never say exactly what's going to happen, but potentially everything is set up for them to go on from here."

Devonshire Cougars: R Brangman, J Butterfield, D Cox, K Franks, I Mallory, T Steede (M Steede, 73), R Robinson, Z White (L Brangman, 46), K-V Tucker, T Smith (M Smith, 46), D Coddington. Subs not used: O Butterfield, C Clarke.

Booked: L Brangman

North Village: J Williams, J Boyles, D Edwards, K Dill, D Taukard, K Jennings, S DeGraff, R Bean (M Goldey, 84), J Peniston, R Spence (K Smith, 58), D Blyden (V Minors, 73). Subs not used: R Wilson.

Booked: Dill, Jennings.

Referee: Alton Reid

Man of the Match: Kor-Von Tucker