North Village 4 –Devonshire Cougars 2

North Village climbed to the top of the Premier Division table yesterday after claiming an important victory over title contenders Devonshire Cougars at Bernard Park.

The Rams are now one point ahead of Dandy Town who drew with Somerset Eagles at St. John's Field, while PHC are three points behind Village but have two games in-hand.

Pierre Smith gave Village the lead with a first time strike after being teed up by Ralph Bean who was sent off by referee Anthony Francis in the final minutes of the game for dissent.

On the half hour mark Bean doubled his team's lead when he found space in the box to volley past Cougars goalkeeper Ricardo Brangman.

Cougars, though, were showing plenty of attacking intent and won a penalty after Sean Fubler was adjudged to have fouled Cougars player-coach Kwame Steede while challenging for a header.

His cousin, Moses Steede, stepped up and made no mistake from the spot, placing his shot to the right of Village keeper Jason Williams.

After the break Village restored their two-goal advantage when substitute Sammy DeGraff made a great run into the box before dispatching Devrae Tankard's pinpoint cross past Brangman.

The hosts seemed capable of breaching Cougars porous defence almost at will, but the Big Cats were still looking threatening at the other end and reduced the deficit, again, minutes later when Kwame Steede drove a low shot past Williams.

It did not take long, however, for Village to strike again with the waspish Taurean Manders volleying home following a poor punched clearance from Brangman to complete the scoring.

Village coach Shaun Goater paid tribute to Cougars' never-say-die spirit before admitting his disappointment with Bean's sending off.

"We knew today was going to be a real challenge and we were never really comfortable even when were had a two-goal lead," said Goater, whose team won the Dudley Eve and Friendship Trophy last season.

"Credit to Cougars because they came and gave it a real go. Obviously I'm delighted with the result but it was disappointing to see an experienced player like Ralph (Bean) get himself sent off. He must have said something to get himself sent off."

North Village: J.Williams, T.Manders, D.Tankard, K.Dill, S.Fubler, P.Smith (S.DeGraff, 50), T.Brown (K.Dill, 60), R.Bean, J.Lee (S.Jennings, 83), T.Burgess. Subs not used: M.Swan, J.Sousa, A.Lee, K.Arruda

Goals: Smith 21, Bean 34, DeGraff 56, Manders 80.

Red card: Bean

Devonshire Cougars: R.Brangman, K.Franks, Zeiko White, J.Butterfield, K.Tucker, M.Smith, Moses Steede, T.Steede, K.Steede, C.Caisey, S.Pearman (D.Coddington, 50). Subs not used: S.Brangman, M.Steede, Zekiro White, D.Daniel, C.Clarke

Yellow card: Smith

Goals: Moses Steede 40 (pen), Kwame Steede 74.

Referee: A. Francis

Man of the match: Manders (Village)

St.George's Colts 1 Boulevard 1

St. Georges's Colts and Boulevard Blazers cancelled each other out at Western Oval yesterday. Blazers took the lead through striker Temiko Wilson but Clay Darrell drew Colts level before half-time.

Southampton Rangers 1 –Devonshire Colts 0

A free-kick from Jermaine Dill earned Southampton Rangers their first win of the season against fellow strugglers Devonshire Colts at Southampton Oval.