This is what championships are made of.

Devonshire Colts had no right to come away from St. John's Field with maximum points yesterday, but they did and the Hallowe'en kids can now boast a four-point lead atop the Coca-Cola First Division.

Trailing to a Darron Simons goal at the half, Colts showed no sign of getting back into a largely scrappy match. Yet it took a stroke of fortune, courtesy of Town striker Carlos Smith to help rejuvenate them.

Smith missed a clear opportunity -- the best of the match -- to put Town two goals up with 19 minutes remaining.

But Colts fired back with Shannon Burgess converting a penalty two minutes later and substitute Aljame Zuill scoring in the 75th minute, merely seconds after replacing veteran Lorenzo Symonds.

Town may have felt hard done by at the end, but they did too little with the first-half wind advantage and struggled to make inroads once they found themselves behind.

Town did a good job hustling Colts off the ball and seemed set to run them off the field after Simons netted his 16th goal of the season in the 34th minute.

Not much happened before then but Colts' Troy Hall was clearly the busier of the two goalkeepers. However, there was nothing Hall could do about Simons's strike.

A long clearance from his opposite number, Antoine Lightbourne, caught the Colts defence at sixes and sevens with three Town players bearing down.

The pressure that Carlos Smith applied to Makonnen Hollis proved just sufficient, and Reggie Tucker produced the vital toe-poke out to Simons whose left-foot drive from 18 yards left nothing to chance.

Oh how Town would need such finishing a little over a half-hour later, but Simons' afternoon was cut short as he was substituted at the interval with a leg injury.

His replacement, Chris Anderson, proved adequate but, all-round, Town's standards from the first half dropped appreciably.

Vic Ball Jr. created Colts' first real chance in the 57th minute but took too long to pull the trigger and was robbed.

This was the beginning of Colts' new-found urgency and further signs came when Ellington Weldon headed wide from a Mark Ray corner and the largely ineffective Sekai Waldron was just short of a searching pass from Ball.

Smith's glaring mis-hit on the end of an Anderson cross came in the 71st minute, the striker electing a first-time shot from 15 yards with no Colts defender in sight.

He put it on target, forcing Hall into a diving save.

Almost immediately after, Wylie Rudo's clumsy tackle bundled over Weldon as he ran away from goal and Burgess made no mistake from the spot.

Before they had caught themselves, Town were trailing. A simple, high ball was knocked into the area, and the defenders stood around dumbfounded until Zuill appeared on the scene.

There would be no way back for the home team.

Dandy Town: A.Lightbourne; W.Rudo, L.Furbert, L.Christopher; R.Parsons (K.Butterfield, 78 mins), R.Tucker, D.Boyles, T.Lewis, S.Tuzo; D.Simons (C.Anderson, 45 mins), C.Smith.

Devonshire Colts: T.Hall; Jermaine Belboda, M.Hollis, S.Burgess, J.Samuels; V.Ball, Jr., L.Symonds (A.Zuill, 74 mins), S.Waldron (J.Richmond, 70 mins); M.Ray, E.Weldon, Jermel Belboda.

Referee: Cal Simons.

Men of the match: Ross Parsons (Dandy Town); Shannon Burgess (Devonshire Colts).

North Village 0 Vasco 0 Vasco did little to enhance their image as league champions and based on yesterday's performance during a scoreless draw against North Village at Bernard Park any thoughts of repeating should be firmly quashed.

Far from the level of skill shown by either side, the contest will be remembered for the gruesome injury suffered by Village midfielder Richard Wilson, which could well end his young career.

The match was just 17 minutes old when Wilson's right leg snapped after he engaged Vasco right back Derek Stapley in a challenge for the ball near midfield.

Play was suspended for more than 10 minutes as Wilson was attended to by team trainers before being rushed by ambulance to the hospital.

Not much separated the combatants during a slow-moving first half, with neither side showing great initiative in attack. Much of the work was carried out in midfield where Vasco's trio of Steval Arorash, Franklyn Simmons and Voorhees Astwood had the edge.

Elliott Jennings came close to putting the home side ahead in the 35th minute when he benefited from loose marking by centre-back Paul Towlson and was able to turn and unleash a firm shot that goalkeeper Timmy Figureido collected on the second attempt.

The half ended with Sammy Swan of Vasco firing inches over the crossbar as he too found room to roam among a lax Village defence.

While more upbeat, the second half yielded no more than the first, as goals again proved elusive on this frigid afternoon.

Vasco clearly dominated action, but were let down by poor finishing and a scrambling Village defence.

Still, Village had chances of their own to score, three of them falling to Nakia Smith. But the hustling midfielder wasted his opportunities in the 49th, 61st and 84th minutes.

Towards the end Vasco ran riot, with Swan again going over the top following a perfect feed from Arorash in the 79th minute and substitute Sinclair Gibbons inexplicably sidefooting wide from close range at the 81-minute mark, as Arorash was again the supplier.

Towlson received his marching orders from referee Gary Cook in the 86th minute to compound the Portuguese club's woes.

North Village: D.Adams; K.Grant, M.Hansey, B.Bell, K.Binns; K.Jennings, N.Smith, R.Spence; D.Wade; R.Wilson (L.Durham 17 mins); E.Jennings (S.Dill 62 mins) Vasco: T.Figureido; D.Stapley, S.Smith, P.Towlson, E.Richardson; S.Arorash; F.Simmons (D.Livingston 82 mins), V.Astwood (S.Gibbons 58 mins); I.Burgess, S.Swan, A.DaCosta (A.Wolffe 66 mins) Men of the match: M.Hansey (Village); S. Arorash (Vasco) Referee: Gary Cook PHC 1 Devonshire Cougars 3 Goalkeeping errors are often more fatal than those of outfield players as PHC goalkeeper Jay Smith -- at 17 the youngest in the First Division -- discovered on Saturday night.

The teenager, still finding his feet in the top flight, made two costly mistakes which allowed Cougars to pick up three more vital points and leave the Zebras without a win since taking the Dudley Eve Trophy.

In slippery conditions brought on by a hard shower earlier in the evening, mistakes were always likely. But Smith cannot even blame the elements for his first error in the 31st minute when, during a period when PHC were on top, he allowed a weak and seemingly harmless grounder from Maxwell Dill to get under his body and roll into an empty net.

Just seconds earlier, Cougars goalkeeper Leon Place brought off a good save to deny Sheridan Ming after Dano Outerbridge's shot bounced off a defender.

PHC's best chance to take the lead came in the 14th minute when a long ball into the Cougars half sent Kenny Mills through the defence. Although he managed to beat the advancing Place to the ball, he was only able to shoot into the sidenetting from an angle inside the box.

Cougars were gifted another goal in the 52nd minute when Otis Steede's intended clearance bounced in front of Smith inside the box. He advanced and tried to head the ball, thinking the pass was an intended back pass, and the ball bounced over his head and just inside the near post.

Smith made amends somewhat with a one-handed save to a shot from Sheldon Caisey soon after, before being beaten again in the 64th minute as Cougars stretched their lead to 3-0.

A long ball upfield saw Philip Clarke use his speed to get through and after the keeper made a challenge, Clarke recovered to score at the second attempt.

PHC made a late surge in a bid to reduce the deficit and they pulled a goal back in the 76th minute when a cross from substitute Damon Francis saw Winston Trott put a powerful header past Place.

Cougars almost added a fourth three minutes after that when Desmond Burgess, booked earlier, was blown down for a foul on Clarke on the left edge of the box and Caisey smashed the free kick against the crossbar.

PHC: J.Smith; E.Hunt (D.Rawlins 68min), D.Outerbridge, D.Burgess, M.Wade, S.Ming, O.Steede, K.Mills, W.Trott, S.Simons, D.Wilson (D.Francis 32min).

Dev.Cougars: L.Place; T.James, K.Swan, S.Caisey, M.Dill, S.Coddington, W.Salaam, G.Dyer, D.Brangman, M.Smith (P.Mallory 66min), P.Clarke.

Referee: Estin Curtis Men of match: S.Ming (PHC), S.Caisey (Cougars).

CARLOS SMITH -- his miss proved costly as Dandy Town went down to Devonshire Colts yesterday.