Devonshire Cougars 3 Dandy Town 2

A dramatic late winner by Devonshire Cougars striker Aljame Zuill inflicted defeat on Dandy Town in the Charity Cup yesterday to lay down a marker for the new campaign.

The annual season curtain raiser looked destined to be decided by spot-kicks before penalty box hustler, Zuill, stunned the Hornets with a trademark close range strike.

On a warm afternoon at BAA Field, Tumani Steede and Chris Caisey had given Cougars a two-goal cushion at the interval before Hornets mounted a spirited second half comeback.

The sending off of Cougars midfielder Shaki Pearman for two bookable offences certainly helped the defending Premier Division champions' cause as they pulled themselves level with goals from debutant striker Ricky Saltus and the industrious Jamal Swan.

But it was 34-year-old Zuill who settled matters by diverting Domico Coddington's pin-point cross past the desperate dive of Hornets goalkeeper Treadwell Gibbons jr with just minutes left on the clock.

Zuill, a former Bermuda international, revealed after the game he planned to hang up his boots at the end of this season.

His aging legs might not get him around the pitch like they used to but on yesterday's evidence Zuill's ability to allude his marker, and finishing composure, seem as sharp as ever.

"I'm 34 now so this is going to be my last season. I've been around for a long while but I can assure you scoring goals is still as much fun as it ever was," said Zuill, who came on as a first half substitute for the injured Jamie Smith. "There's a lot of competition for places at Cougars but I plan to force my way into the team and score as many goals as I can."

Cougars player-coach Kwame Steede is likely to use Zuill as an impact substitute rather than a regular starter this season, but believes the evergreen marksman still has plenty to offer.

"Aljame's been a goal poacher throughout his career. Today he showed the younger guys how it's done," said Steede, who sat out yesterday's match.

Steede was thrilled with the character his team showed considering they had been forced to play to entire second half with just ten men. "We had to change our shape as we were down to ten men and they came at us.

"We had to adjust because Hornets are no easy task," he said. "They fought back from two goals down but we showed our worth by still coming out on top."

For the most part the Hornets struggled to cope with Cougars' enterprise and energy during the first period and it was no surprise when they took the lead through Tumani Steede, who curled in a left-footed shot from just inside the box.

Cougars then doubled their advantage when Gibbons jr could only parry Moses Steede's free-kick into the path of Caisey who made no mistake with the rebound.

However, smelling blood following Pearman's dismissal, Hornets responded immediately after the break through Saltus who calmly rounded Cougars 'keeper Clyde Darrell jr to mark his Hornets debut with a goal.

The former X'Roads man then turned provider when his dangerous set-piece was met with a powerful header from young midfielder Swan.

It looked as though Hornets might have had the momentum to find the winner before Zuill's predatory finish extinguished any such hopes.

Dev Cougars: C.Darrell, J.Seymour, Kor-Von Tucker (T.Woodley, 87), S.Brangman, K.Franks, M.Steede, C.Caisey, T.Steede (L.Simmons, 76), S.Pearman, D.Coddington, J.Smith (A.Zuill, 43)

Substitutes not used: K.Goddard, J.Mouchette

Goals: T.Steede, 24, Caisey, 28

Sent off: S. Pearman, 43

Booked J.Seymour

Dandy Town: T.Gibbons, S.DeShields (J.Butterfied, 74), J.Pensiton, G.Dyer, K.Tucker, J.Swan, T.Russell, D.Ming, L.Dill (R.Beach, 45), L.Tucker (T.Saki, 76), R.Saltus

Substitutes not used: D.Chambers, S.Brown

Goals: Saltus, 48, Swan, 77

Booked: K.Tucker

Referee: A.Mouchette

Man-of-the-match: J.Swan (Hornets)