Devonshire Cougars 2 Young Men’s Social Club 1

Devonshire Cougars clawed their way to within a point of leaders North Village after late goals from substitutes Domico Coddington and Simeon Burrows powered them to victory over Young Men’s Social Club in a scrappy Premier Division encounter at the Den last night.

The visitors appeared to have done enough to secure the points when captain Ryan Parris scored from a free kick that Cougars custodian Jerez Eve should have easily dealt with in the 89th minute.

However, Coddington equalised only seconds later from the kick-off standing inside the centre circle after spotting Social Club goalkeeper Saki Tuzo off his line.

Burrows then completed the hosts’ late fightback in the first minute of stoppage time when his wind assisted corner kick found its way into the back of the net in heavy traffic.

“It was the type of game when you miss chances, things like this happen,” Cougars coach Kwame Steede told The Royal Gazette.

“It goes down to the wire and the game should have been over first half with the amount of chances we missed. So this is what we get when we don’t put our chances away.”

Coddington and Burrows were among five changes Steede made to his starting XI from his team’s previous outing against Village in the Friendship Trophy quarter-final on Sunday night and took their chance well after being thrown into the fray.

“They are impact players and I was just trying to shuffle the team because we still have games to play,” Steede added. “Guys have played a lot of minutes so we try and shuffle the team and they came on and done their job.”

As for the title race, Steede said: “We can only do our part and depend on help. So as long as we do our part, let the chips fall at the end.”

Cougars dominated possession during the first half as the visitors sat deep and looked to catch their rivals on the counter attack and should have been clear out of sight by the interval.

Midfielder Quadir Maynard went close to breaking the deadlock when he struck the post.

Striker Nyeem Simmons then squandered a glorious opportunity after blazing Maynard’s short pass in the box over the bar standing right in front of goal.

Winger Elisha Darrell also looked a gift horse in the mouth when he headed Lejuan Simmons’s precision cross wide also from close range at the back post.

After weathering a long period of pressure, Social Club began to create chances of their own, with David Jones Jr blasting over after running into space on the edge of the box while Eve rushed off his line to block fellow midfielder Ayden Gardner’s shot on a quick counter-attack.

Cougars midfielder Jazario Brimmer also spurned a good opportunity when he volleyed defender Jecoa Thomas’s cross over the bar right on the half-time whistle.

Social Club created the first real chance after the restart when Gardner wove his way past three defenders before firing over from an angle on the left side of the box.

At the other end, Cougars’s woes in front of goal continued with striker Nyeem Simmons heading Thomas’s cross wide from point-blank range.

The hosts’ frustration intensified when they had an appeal for a penalty waved off after Darrell went down under a challenge in the area.

Social Club came close to grabbing the lead when Jones had a shot cleared off the line by Cougars defender Jayori Fox.

Steede was forced to make an unscheduled change after experienced winger Lejuan Simmons went off with a slight hamstring pull.

Darrell brought off a save by Tuzo at the near post while Social Club midfielder Josh Hardtman sliced defender Teron Butterfield’s free kick over inside the box as the game opened up coming down the final stretch.

The visitors finally broke Cougars’ resistance when Eve thought Parris’s free kick had gone high and wide only to watch in horror as the ball dipped into the net inside of the far post.

Eve’s opposite number, Tuzo, also paid the price for poor goalkeeping as he was left stranded in no-man’s-land as the alert Coddington equalised straight from the kick-off.

Things then quickly went from bad to worse for Social Club as Burrows scored the winner directly from a corner kick to secure the points and more importantly keep his team thick in the title race.

SCORERS

Devonshire Cougars: Coddington 90, Burrows 90+1

Young Men’s Social Club: Parris 89

TEAMS

Devonshire Cougars (4-3-3): J Eve 7 — J Thomas 7, L Millett 7 (sub: C Maybury, 78min), Z White 7, J Fox 7 — J Brimmer 7 (sub: C Brangman 78), Z Simmons 7, Q Maynard 7 (sub: D Daniels, 63 7) — E Darrell 7, L Simmons 7 (sub: S Burrows, 63 7), N Simmons 6 (sub: D Coddington, 56 7). Substitutes not used: Zion Simmons, S Jones. Booked: Maynard.

Young Men's Social Club (4-1-4-1): S Tuzo 6 — T Butterfield 7, C Woolridge 7, R Parris 7, B Swan 7 — J Johnson 7 — J Hardtman 7, A Gardner 7 (sub: J Mallory, 77), M Hardtman 7, D Jones Jr 7 (sub: C Hardtman, 87) — G Butterfield 7. Substitutes not used: K Butterfield, M Rudo, K Smith, M Williams. Booked: M Hardtman.

Referee: A Francis.