Dandy Town 2 Devonshire Cougars 0

Dandy Town beat Devonshire Cougars to seal the first three points in the season-opener at Goose Gosling Field last night courtesy of second-half goals by Azendae Furbert and David Blankendal.

“It was a good game,” said Kwame Steede, the Town coach and former Cougars player.

“It was a time of moments. They had theirs but didn’t capitalise and hen we had ours, we done things with it.

“Also, our goalkeeper played well and pulled off some timely saves. He is young and commanded his goal which kept us comfortable in the game.”

The game started at a quick pace with both teams sporting new recruits in Cecoy Robinson for Town and Lejaun Simmons for Cougars.

Midfielder Treshun Smith had the first chance to put Town ahead when he chested a diagonal cross before beating his marker but shot well wide from the top of the box.

Cougars came close to taking the lead when new signing, Simmons pulled a ball back for striker Elisha Darrell to hit a first time shot but it rattled the crossbar before being cleared to safety.

The two combined again as this time, Darrell flicked a ball to put Simmons through but his low drive brought off a reflex save from Town’s young custodian, Milal Perott, who stuck his foot out to deflect the ball around the post for a corner.

Cougars’ Moses Steede almost gifted Town the opener when he lost possession deep in his territory but again Smith raced his shot which went wide without bothering Cougars goalkeeper Ajai Daniels.

Perott was kept busy and called upon to make two spectacular saves just before the half when first, he finger-tipped a 30-yard scorcher from Steede over the top then denied Simmons with a one-handed, diving save after he was put through from a floated, diagonal ball.

The breakthrough came early in the second half. A Town corner was knocked out to the top of the box where Azendae Furbert hit a hard and low drive which nested in the right corner of Daniel’s net as he was blinded by the maze of players.

Cougars made a change up front bringing on Nyeem Simmons. He made an immediate impact with his forceful runs which put Town under constant pressure. Cougars thought they had equalised when Simmons followed up a move he had started down the left flank before tapping in at the back post only to be left deflated as the flag was raised for offside.

Substitute David Blankendal relieved his team of some pressure with his goal two minutes into stoppage time when his drive beat the goalkeeper before hitting the upright and rolled across goal into the net.

SCORERS

Dandy Town: Furbert 50, Blankendal 90+2

TEAMS

Dandy Town (4-2-2-1): M Perott — E Trott, A Furbert, T Webb Jr (sub: N Carmichael 79min) — E Blankendal – O Lowe, J Richardson-Martin — T Smith (sub: M Mello-Cann, 67min), J Furbert (sub: D Blankendal, 65min) A Simmons — C Robinson. Substitutes not used: J Roser, J Amory, M Aden, E Swan.

Devonshire Cougars (4-1-4-1): A Daniels — L Millett, Zekiro White, Zeko White (sub: L Simmons, 54), T Tucker — C Maybury — J Fox (sub: J Mouchette, 65min), Chris Caisey, M Steede, L Simmons — E Darrell (sub: N Simmons, 70).

Substitutes not used: J Mallory,D Williams, Chekai Caisey, M Steede. Booked: M Steede, Z Simmons, N Simmons.

Referee: G Swainson.