Dandy Town emphasised their PDL Festive Tournament title credentials by defeating much-fancied Devonshire Cougars 2-1 at Goose Gosling Field at the weekend.

A second half strike from overage player Seion Darrell booked Town a place in the last four, where they will meet X-Roads at the same venue tonight at 9.15pm.

Tomiko Goater gave Town the lead midway through the first period after latching on to a through ball that dissected the Cougars defence before neatly tucking the ball home.

Domico Coddington, the veteran Cougars striker, was a constant threat and came agonisingly close to levelling when his effort struck the post as Town rode their luck to preserve their lead until the interval.

Cougars continued to press after the break and got their just rewards on 66 minutes when the Town defence was caught napping as Demitre Daniels burst through unmarked to slide the ball past goalkeeper Mikkail Crockwell.

On 71 minutes Darrell emerged as the match-winner in what was an absorbing encounter, which outlined the strength of both club’s youth programmes, with the midfielder blasting into the net after his late run into the box went unchecked.

Town had to endure some nervous moments late on with Cougars coach Dennis Brown reverting to a three-man defence as his team poured forward in desperate pursuit of an equaliser.

Their best chance fell to striker Tre Dill who should have done better with a free header which he looped over the crossbar from substitute Mark Steede’s right wing cross.

Dennis Zuill, the Town coach, is confident his team can land the PDL Festive Tournament trophy after “getting rid of their major rivals” Cougars.

“We stuck to the task today which I was very happy with. We have come up with a formula going forward and I feel we can dominate this tournament,” said Zuill, Town’s first team assistant coach.

“When Cougars and Town meet — the two premier programmes right now in Bermuda — it’s always entertaining. Hats off to Dennis Brown and his staff but today we edged them.

“We only carried two overage players, Seion Darrell and our keeper Mikkail Crockwell, the rest were 22 and younger. Today we got rid of our major rivals and there’s no reason why we can’t go all the way in this competition.”

In Saturday’s other quarter-final at Goose Gosling Field, defending champions Wolves grabbed a thrilling 3-2 comeback victory over BAA Wanderers.

Joshua Crockell and Oliver Jalen-Harvey gave BAA a deserved 2-0 lead at the break but Wolves dug deep to fight back and reach the semi-finals, where they will take on PHC tonight at 6.15pm. Derrick Brangman pulled a goal back for Wolves on 51 minutes before Tevahn Tyrell converted from the penalty spot ten minutes later.

With BAA’s side, young even by PDL standards, visibly tiring, Wolves were firmly in the ascendancy and completed the comeback when veteran striker VJ Minors struck the winner on 81 minutes.

Minors, who came on as a second half substitute, praised his team-mates’ fighting spirit and believes Wolves are capable of successfully defending their title.

“At half-time I heard a lot of players saying ‘we’re not out of this’ and that gave me a lot of encouragement,” Minors said. “To be fair BAA missed a lot of chances and could have been leading by four or five at half-time.

“I’m just looking to help the young guys out and the goals keep popping up for me. We’re the defending champions and that’s what we’re here to do — defend the cup.”