[naviga:font color="BLUE"] Boulevard 1 Devonshire Cougars 0

Niko Smith's first-half header was enough to give Boulevard Blazers the first silverware of the season, but if this is a sign of things to come then it's going to be an interesting six months in the world of Bermuda football.

Yesterday's Charity Cup had everything; a manager sent to the stands, a player taken to hospital, a striker sent off for a wild tackle, a goalkeeper sent off for not being smart enough to keep his mouth shut, numerous yellow cards, and an almost complete inability by either side to hit a target eight yards across and eight feet high.

And despite finishing the game with nine men, Devonshire Cougars will be wondering quite how they managed to lose a game they should have wrapped up in the first five minutes.

It began with Korvon Tucker after just three minutes when he flashed a shot across the face of goal after Kwame Steede had split the Blazers defence wide open, continued moments later when Lemuel Weeks took advantage of a mix-up in the Blazers defence to race through only to see Jaqui Simons hack the ball off the line, and went downhill from there.

Over the course of the game Cougars managed to miss from a variety of angles, with substitute Mark Steede the biggest offender, blasting over from 12 yards out with the entire goal at his mercy.

Not that Blazers were much better, with Angelo Simmons the biggest culprit. The striker managed to head the ball wide when right in front of goal, and in the frantic closing stages hit the crossbar from two yards out.

Simmons' first miss indirectly led to Blazers manager Andrew Bascome being sent off for abusing the fourth official. Cougars defender Omar Butterfield was injured in the build-up, and while he was receiving treatment Bascome summoned his side to the dugout.

Butterfield eventually moved off and referee Anthony Francis whistled for the game to resume while Boulevard were all gathered by the dug out, only the speed of defender Damali Bell stopping Cougars breaking clear. Bascome voiced his displeasure to the fourth official in fairly stringent terms and was sent off.

Moments later Blazers went ahead. Cougars' Jesse Seymour upended Angelo Gibbons on the edge of the penalty area and from the resulting free kick Smith rose highest to loop a header over Ricardo Brangman in the Cougars goal.

The second half began slowly, until a seemingly innocuous challenge left the unfortunate Omar Butterfield clutching his ankle and writhing around in agony. The game was stopped for almost eight minutes while the Cougars skipper was lifted onto a stretcher and taken to hospital.

After that the game took on a similar pattern as it had to the first, with both sides creating chances and failing to take them. Cougars never really looked like scoring, and Blazers couldn't give themselves enough breathing space to ever make the game truly safe.

Still Cougars laid siege to the Blazers goal and as the encounter reached a frantic conclusion Lamont Brangman, who had only been on the pitch 12 minutes lunged at Blazers keeper Randy Broadbelt catching more ankle than ball, and was sent off.

Goalkeeper Ricardo Brangman followed soon after when he let fly with a volley of abuse at referee Francis after the official had apparently missed what Brangman thought was a handball on the edge of the Blazers penalty area.

Down to nine men Cougars continued to charge forward, and several times Blazers should have taken advantage, that they didn't will be a worry for Bascome who is likely to spend the first two games of the league season watching from the stands.

Right now though that isn't likely to matter to Blazers, they have the first piece of silverware and the first bragging rights of the new season.

Devonshire Cougars: R Brangman, J Butterfield, O Butterfield (K Franks, 53), Jesse Seymour, I Malhory, K Steede, Moses Steede, T Steede (Lejuan Simmons, 53), S Brangman, L Weeks (Mark Steede, 67), Korvon Tucker (L Brangman, 67). Subs not used: Zeko White, Zekiro White, M Smith. Booked: Seymour, S Brangman. Sent off: L Brangman, R Brangman.

Boulevard Blazers: R Broadbelt, D Bell, A Gibbons, J Simons, H Burrows, M Parsons (R Burgess, 82), Niko Smith (M Clemens, 46), Q Maynard (D Bascome, 62), M Gibbons, A Simmons, T Walker. Subs not used: K Bean, T Wilson, A Nelson, Nelson Smith. Booked: Niko Smith, M Gibbons, Burgess.

Referee: A Francis

Man of the match: M Gibbons