Devonshire Cougars 3

Devonshire Colts 0

Two breathtaking headers either side of the half from Kwame Steede and an opportunistic second-half strike by veteran Stevie Wade earned Devonshire Cougars maximum points against lowly Devonshire Colts at The Den yesterday.

Cougars thus closed out the first half of the season in style, keeping pace with league leaders Dandy Town heading into the Christmas break.

Carrying the match to their opponents from the outset, Cougars dominated in every department - even in the absence of key striker Raymond Beach who was suspended.

The final scoreline, however, did them scant justice as the woodwork, a point-blank save by Colts ‘keeper Khabir Dill and a plethora of near misses denied the home side chances to blow their opponents clean off the pitch.

Such was Cougars' dominance, Colts only had two real shots on goal during the entire match.

“I really feel our team was able to step up in Beach's absence. We knew we didn't have our top striker and so we had to go out there and do what we needed to do in order to get the three points,” said man-of-the-match Steede.

“I'm glad my team played the way they did. They played hard and I just hope we can continue to grind out points during the second half (of the season) so that we can push for the title.”

Also coming up big for Cougars was veteran Wade, the oldest player on the pitch, who more than compensated up front in Beach's absence and was rewarded for his relentless running down the flanks with the easiest of goals in the second half.

From the opening whistle, Colts must have realised they were in for a long afternoon as Cougars went straight for the jugular.

First, veteran sweeper Shawn Smith found Heys Wolfe in the middle with an accurate cross, but the wiry striker's first-time shot was saved by a well-positioned Dill.

Then the hard-working Jeremy DeShields saw his well-flighted free kick from the left-side go completely across goal untouched as Cougars desperately sought to break the ice.

Powerful forward Shaki Minors then failed to get a boot onto Wolfe's cross from the left, an area which gave Colts plenty of worries - especially with the high diagonal balls over the top.

Minors, however, almost made amends moments later when his shot from the edge of the 18-yard box flew just wide of the far post.

At the other end, Colts skipper Shannon Burgess had back-to-back long range efforts easily saved by a mostly inactive Ricardo Brangman, and that ultimately proved to be the closest Colts would come to scoring.

But for all their hard work, Cougars had to wait until the stroke of half-time before they finally penetrated their opponents' defence - and what a beauty it was.

Outleaping his marker at the back post, Steede powerfully headed Wolfe's corner-kick into the back of the net to give his team a 1-0 lead.

During the interval, Cougars received a few words of encouragement from Andrew Bascome, acquired by the club to assist in the absence of injured coach Albert Smith.

And they appeared to have an immediate effect when play restarted with Minors barely failing to connect with a Steede cross and Wade driving a shot just wide of the post.

But there would be no denying Cougars in the 64th minute when Steede again rose above Colts' defence to put the match beyond the visitors with yet another clinically executed header from a Joshua Butterfield cross.

It was then left to Wade to put the icing on the cake with a simple stab from four yards after Dill failed to collect Steede's free kick and spilled an easy chance for the returning Cougars' veteran.

Steede, who enjoyed perhaps his best game of the season so far, was denied a deserved hat-trick when his first-time half-volley smashed onto the crossbar, while Wolfe finished off a brilliant three-man move involving Wade and Steede by firing over from eight yards.

But by then this contest was all but over and the points were safely in the bag.

Devonshire Cougars: R.Brangman, J.Butterfield, O.Butterfield, S.Smith, J.DeShields, K.Steede, D.Eve, K.Goddard, S.Wade, S.Minors, H.Wolfe.

Devonshire Colts: K.Dill, J.Butterfield, D.Zuill, D.Williams (S.Mendes, 62 mins), R.Spence, S.Burgess, J.Dill (Q.Aberdeen, 68 mins), G.Gibbons, A.Zuill, M.Bean (T.Foote, 78 mins), M.Hollis.

Booked: O.Butterfield, K.Steede, S.Minors (Cougars); D.Williams, J.Dill, A.Zuill (Colts).

Men of the match: K.Steede (Cougars); J.Butterfield (Colts).

Referee: Leroy Wilson.