Devonshire Cougars 7 Boulevard Blazers 0

Devonshire Cougars stayed within touching distance of the Premier Division league leaders with a rout of struggling Boulevard at Devonshire Rec.

Two goals from Elisha Darrell and Jazario Brimmer were added to by single strikes from Domico Coddington, Chris Caisey and Demetre Daniels to wrap up an emphatic victory, while Boulevard’s miserable evening was compounded by Sergio Woolridge missing a penalty.

The result leaves Cougars just two points adrift of pacesetters North Village as the title battle continues to intensify.

“It was a very comfortable victory and we could have easily had four or five more,” said Cougars captain Zari Simmons. “We were missing a number of players today but that just shows our strength in depth, I think it’s unmatched.

“We’re just taking it game by game at the minute and not worrying about anyone else. We want to win every game from here on and it’s about building on that momentum.”

It was the visitors who should have broken the deadlock in the third minute when Clay Darrell was played clean through only for the forward to fire straight at onrushing goalkeeper Ricardo Brangman.

At the other end, Boulevard had centre half Antoine Famous to thank in the tenth minute, with his perfectly-timed, last-ditch tackle almost certainly denying Elisha Darrell from finding the net as he bore down on Azir Harvey’s goal.

However, there was to be no denying the pacy frontman from opening the scoring just a minute later. An incisive one-touch flowing move down the right-hand side cut through the Boulevard defence with the ball eventually finding Darrell inside the area to rifle a left-footed effort into the top-left corner.

The advantage was doubled in the 35th minute when Brimmer’s effort from the edge of the area took a wicked deflection, looping up and over the helpless Harvey as the ball nestled into the bottom-left corner.

Before Boulevard had time to recover from the setback they found themselves 3-0 down as the ball was worked into the feet of Coddington, who shifted the ball to his right before firing a low effort beyond the reach of Harvey and into the bottom-right corner.

Both sides had chances at the beginning of the second half with Darrell and Coddington being denied by Harvey for Cougars, while at the other end Woolridge and Akim Johnston both fired narrowly wide as Boulevard searched for a way back into the encounter.

However, Blazers’ task was made even harder in the 57th minute when Cougars grabbed a fourth. An inviting free kick from the left by Jecoa Thomas picked out an unmarked Brimmer, who rose highest to head home.

Just as they had at the end of the first half, Boulevard capitulated defensively with the hosts scoring a further three times in the space of just six minutes.

The first came in the 65th minute when Chris Caisey duly punished the visitors for allowing him an abundance of time and space with the midfielder unleashing a stinging 30-yard strike into the top-left corner.

Just four minutes later, the impressive Che’Kai Caisey, who had proved a thorn in the side for the visitors all evening, drove down the right-hand side before picking out Elisha Darrell for a simple tap-in.

With Boulevard’s heads dropped completely, Cougars poured further salt in the wounds as Daniels curled home an exquisite right-footed effort from the edge of the area into the top-right corner to wrap up the scoring.

Just to compound matters, Woolridge spurned a golden opportunity to grab a consolation for his side in the 75th minute, firing hopelessly wide from the spot after Clay Darrell was upended inside the area.

SCORERS

Devonshire Cougars: E Darrell 11, 69, J Brimmer 35, 57, D Coddington 37, Chris Caisey 65, D Daniels 71.

TEAMS

Devonshire Cougars (4-5-1): R Brangman 7 - Che’Kai Caisey 8, Z Simmons 7, N Furbert 7, J Thomas 7 - Chris Caisey 7 (sub: K Minors, 76min), J Brimmer 8 (sub: N Simmons, 76), D Daniels 7, J Fox 7 (sub: J Wade, 71), D Coddington 7 (sub: J Furbert-Wade, 76) - E Darrell 8 (sub L Simmons 71). Substitutes not used: N Carmichael, J Mouchette.

Boulevard Blazers (4-5-1): A Harvey 6 - D Hendrickson 5, A Famous 5, A Williams-Smith 6 , T Walker 5 - J Samuels 6, K Davis 6 (sub: A Matthews, 72), A Johnston 6, S Woolridge 5, E Trott 5 - C Darrell 5 (sub: G Liburd, 77). Substitutes not used: T Taylor, R Murphy, O Wilson. Booked: Darrell.

Referee: A Francis.