Somerset Eagles 1 Devonshire Cougars 1

Somerset Eagles earned a valuable point against Devonshire Cougars at White Hill Field yesterday.

After Eagles took a first half lead, the game became a tale of two penalties.

First, Cougars drew level when they were awarded a spot kick and then in the dying moments of the game, Eagles were denied a penalty that could have won them the match.

The scorers were Kanhai Fray for Eagles and Kijuan Franks for Cougars from the penalty spot.

Eagles had made a few changes in their line-up, particularly in defence. They chose to draft the experienced Lorenzo Burch into the centre of defence alongside Richard Quinn and they provided an assured presence that restricted the Cougars frontline from causing as many problems as they usually do.

With little goalmouth action, the first half was threatening to end in boredom, until Eagles finally made the breakthrough in the 45th minute.

Dane Simmons, the Eagles’ centre forward, won the ball in a dangerous position and unselfishly played a good through ball that Fray latched on to and calmly steered into the back of the net to give the home side the lead.

If the first half of the match had been a quiet affair, the second portion was anything but. Less than five minutes after the restart, Zeiko White, the Cougars’ captain, found himself in space in the area, but blazed over the bar.

Then, Lorenzo Lambert, the Eagles goalkeeper, had to be at his best to save Lamont Brangman’s shot from two yards out after Charmari Burns squared the ball to Brangman.

Then, Anwar Telford, the Eagles’ midfielder unleashed a rasping drive that went straight at Kioshi Trott, the Cougars’ goalkeeper. And then Fray shot over the bar after a pass from Telford.

Eagles almost had a second goal thanks to quick thinking from striker Simmons. He played a brilliant pass out wide that sent Davin Riley-Clarke, the overlapping full back, in on goal. However, just before Riley-Clarke could get his shot off to increase his side’s lead, goalkeeper Trott cut out the shot.

Eagles’ inability to get a second goal was then punished, when Cougars were awarded a penalty. After a quick break away, Cougars midfielder Machi Battersbee, raced into the area and was brought down by the Eagles goalkeeper and the referee pointed to the spot. Kijuan Franks stepped up and put his effort to the right of the goalkeeper and drew his team level.

Both goalkeeper Lambert and his counterpart Trott were forced to pull off stunning saves, as the game drifted into the final minutes.

Deep in injury time, Eagles thought they had found the winning goal they sought, after Fray went down in the box, after latching onto a defence-splitting pass. It appeared as if contact from the Cougars’ last defender was the cause of Fray being brought down and so the Eagles were certain that they had a penalty claim, however, the referee waved play on.

SCORERS

Somerset Eagles

Fray 55

Devonshire Cougars

Franks 79 pen

TEAMS

Somerset Eagles (4-3-3): L Lambert — D Riley-Clarke, R Quinn, L Burch, A Furbert — A Telford, K Harrison, R Seaman (sub: A Wilkinson, 65min) — K Fray, D Simmons (sub: J Simmons, 70), C Henry. Substitutes not used: K Evans, J Santos. Booked: Lambert.

Devonshire Cougars (4-3-3): K Trott — M Rudo, K Franks, Zekiro White, J Smith (sub: S Pearman, 53min) — M Battersbee, Zeiko White, N Carmicheal — C Burns, L Brangman (sub: H Stevens-Carty, 90), J Mallory (sub: N Simmons, 82). Booked: Brangman.

Referee: A Bailey.