Dandy Town Hornets 2 Devonshire Cougars 3

Devonshire Cougars moved to the top of the Premier Division at the halfway point of the season after fighting back from two goals down to beat Dandy Town in a pulsating encounter at Goose Gosling Field last night.

The predatory Domico Coddington haunted the Hornets with his every touch, scoring a late brace to move Cougars — who played a man short for most of the second half — above North Village and PHC in the title race.

“We put the work in and showed character tonight to come from two goals down,” said relieved Cougars coach Kwame Steede.

“Town came at us hard with their youth. We took a while to settle down and eventually came away with the three points. Being on top of the table at the halfway mark is a place that Cougars haven’t been for a while, and now we’re going to push on through.”

Cougars failed to absorb some early pressure from a youthful Dandy Town outfit, who ran at their opponents from the opening whistle. Their high press paid immediate dividends when Cougars’ Zari Simmons was dispossessed in his own half before Town captain Tomiko Goater dummied the ball for an unmarked Jahzardae Samuels to hit a low drive beyond the stranded Jerez Eve.

Jayori Fox did well to keep the deficit to just one when he recovered to clear Hayden Dill’s lob over Eve, but before Cougars could settle, the Hornets doubled their lead in the twelfth minute when goalscorer Samuels laid a pass into the path of Enoch Joseph to side-foot past Eve without breaking stride.

As Cougars started to come into the match, Coddington made his presence felt with an inswinging free kick that forced Hornets goalkeeper Jaiden Manders to punch to safety. Another Coddington free kick led to Cougars’ first goal of the night, as Jazario Brimmer met his cross with a header that sneaked through a crowded goalmouth into the net.

Samuels nearly extended Town’s lead before the interval, but his strike was deflected wide by a recovering defender as the half-time whistle blew.

Cougars picked up the intensity after the restart but suffered an immediate setback when first-half substitute Mikel Thomas, who had already been booked, made a reckless tackle on Town’s goalkeeper to receive his second yellow card.

After going down to ten men, Cougars made a tactical change in sending Coddington forward into the striker’s role, and end-to-end action followed as Samuels’s drive was punched to safety by Eve and Elisha Darrell had his thunderbolt shot saved by a diving Manders.

Cougars equalised just after the hour mark, but not without controversy. Manders had raced off his line to smother the ball from Coddington’s boot, with referee Amaury Majors blowing the whistle.

After consulting his assistant, Majors dropped the ball to Manders, who proceeded to release the ball and place it on the ground. An alert Coddington then ran up and side-footed the loose ball into the empty net. Despite strong protests from Town players and officials, the goal stood and the scores were level.

Cougars continued to press despite being at a man disadvantage, with Darrell’s dangerous crosses from the left flank causing constant problems.

This tactic paid off, as Coddington controlled a cross before snaking his way into the box only to be bundled over by defender Edry Moore. After brushing himself off, Coddington calmly stroked his penalty kick to the right of goalkeeper Manders to seal the points.

SCORERS

Dandy Town: Samuels 5, Joseph 12

Devonshire Cougars: Brimmer 33, Coddington 66, 72 pen

TEAMS

Dandy Town Hornets (4-1-4-1): J Manders 8 — A Trott 6, E Moore 6, J Johnson 5 (sub: T Webb, 52min 6), J Wilson-Butterfield 5 — L Outerbridge 6 — T Goater 5 (sub: A Martin, 85), H Dill 6, J Bean-Lindo 6 (sub: A Lewis, 72), E Joseph 6 (sub: A Daniels, 72) — J Samuels 7. Substitutes not used: E Outerbridge, Q Watson, J Roser. Booked: Goater, Dill, Samuels, S Darrell (assistant coach).

Devonshire Cougars (4-1-4-1): J Eve 6 — J Thomas 6, Z White 6, M Joell 6, J Fox 6 — Z Simmons 5 (sub: D Simmons, 46 5) — D Coddington 9, Q Maynard 6, J Brimmer 7 (sub: C Albuoy, 90), E Darrell 7 — N Simmons 5 (sub: M Thomas, 33 4). Substitutes not used: C Brangman, S Burrows, K Hill-Tuzo, N Carmichael. Booked: Fox, Thomas. Sent off: Thomas.

Referee: A Majors.