Steede at double for triumphant Big Cats
It was the Tumaini Steede show yesterday at National Sports Centre as the youngster stuck a brace to help Devonshire Cougars successfully defend their FA Cup with a comfortable 4-1 win over Southampton Rangers.Jesse Seymour and Lejuan Simmons also scored for the champions, while Travis Wilkinson scored a consolation goal for Rangers.In what had been a frustrating week for Cougars up until yesterday’s triumph, having been beaten last weekend at the same venue in the Friendship Cup to North Village, the FA Cup final was to be no repeat of their last outing.“It was a good game for the most part, we came up here knowing that we were the defending champions and needed to get off to a good start and we did just that,” said Steede.“This is back to back, we have made history for the club, not only winning our first FA Cup last year but now two in a row so we are pleased.“I think we came out with hunger today and you could see it in our play, we wanted the game and coming off of last week’s performance in the Friendship we wanted to show we can play better.”The game could have been totally different if Wilkinson had not missed a sitter from five yards out in the second minute in a fast paced opening to the match in which both sides had chances to open their account.It was left to Steede to put the ‘Big Cats’ ahead six minutes later when he neatly controlled a Josh Butterfield cross and beat his marker before sliding his effort past Rangers goalkeeper Sean Perinchief.Rangers did have a few half chances that could have turned into something, but woeful finishing from Dennis Russell and bad timing from Wilkinson kept the side from producing anything worth shouting about.The telling blow was struck five minutes before half time by Seymour when he hit a laser that went racing into the far post to put his side up two and take the air out of Rangers’ sails just before the break.Substitute Kor-von Tucker almost got his name on the sheet shortly after the break, and then Steede had an effort from point blank range saved by Perinchief.The match was over as a contest soon after when Steede deftly chipped Perinchief to send the champions on their way to their first successful title defence in their history.Wilkinson capitalised on a defensive mix-up between Cougars defender Darius Cox and his goalkeeper Ricardo Brangman inside the area five minutes from time, but it was merely a ripple in a game that saw Simmons ending the scoring when he leapt off the bench to strike in injury time.“Rangers came to play but when we got the first we felt that it would be our day, said Tumaini Steede. “We came to play today.“The win doesn’t make up for the league title, it isn’t a case of redemption it is about winning the game on the day.“I would also like to send my condolences out to the Robinson family on Randy’s passing away, he will be missed.”Tuff-E-Nuff 3Panthers 0Tuff-E-Nuff got goals from three separate players as they won the Women’s FA Cup.Kyla Ramatar gave the champions the lead, before Jessica Furtado doubled the score. Keunna Dill secured the win with her first and the side’s third.Somerset Trojans 3North Village Rams 2Somerset Trojans dethroned North Village in the U-14 KO Cup, beating the champions 3-2.Justin Donawa’s scored just before the break, before Stafari Burrows doubled the lead minutes into the second half.Micah Perozzi pulled a goal back for the Rams and one minute later the scores were level when Brandon Sousa scored.Burrows would see his side safely to the title when he scored his second and his sides third to settle matters.