Dandy Town 2 Devonshire Cougars 3

Dandy Town’s title hopes were finally extinguished by Devonshire Cougars in a thrilling match at Goose Gosling Field on Sunday.

Cougars survived a late surge from Town, who nearly fought back from three goals down at half time despite having three players sent off.

Chae Brangman’s first-half hat-trick was ultimately enough for Cougars to prevail but the match winner, who was substituted when Cougars were 3-0 up, could only watch on as his team desperately clung to victory.

“We had a good game today, but it was nervous watching towards the end,” Brangman said.

“We have the FA Cup semi-final coming up so the coach thought he would save me for that but it almost backfired. I was presented with the three chances today and took them well.”

Despite the half-time scoreline, Town dominated the opening minutes with Nizigh Spence forcing Cougars goalkeeper Q’Shai Darrell into making a full-length diving save to push his volley around the post for a corner. Ereico Outerbridge followed that with a low shot which goalkeeper Darrell fumbled but collected cleanly on the second attempt as striker David Jones Jr closed in.

Cougars finally settled down and opened the scoring against the run of play in the 29th minute when Domico Coddington darted down the left flank and crossed for striker Brangman to hit a first-time shot, which went in off the upright.

Cougars doubled their lead six minutes later after good build-up through midfield with the ball eventually played wide to Che’Kai Caisey, whose low cross found Brangman lurking in the centre to sidefoot past the diving Peter Silvester in the Town goal.

Brangman completed his hat-trick on the stroke of half time when Jazario Brimmer dispossessed Outerbridge to send the striker down the right flank. After dribbling a few steps, he unleashed a low drive which beat the outstretched arm of a diving Silvester and deflected off the left upright as Cougars took a 3-0 lead into the break.

Cougars coach Kwame Steede made changes in the 63rd minute, including replacing the hat-trick hero, but the moves almost backfired as Town upped their tempo with their title hopes slipping away.

Outerbridge had his powerful header saved off the line but his side breached the Cougars defence from the resulting corner when Spence rose highest at the back post to head home captain Tomiko Goater’s cross.

One of the game’s major talking points came in the 78th minute when referee Tashun Simons awarded Cougars a penalty after Town goalkeeper Silvester was adjudged to have fouled Coddington. Defender Mateo Issac then verbally disputed the call and was given a straight red card.

Brangman’s replacement Christian Albuoy stepped up to take the penalty but Silvester did well to push the effort against the upright before turning to collect the rebound. Town captain Goater then reacted with some comments towards Simons and was also given a straight red card, reducing Town to nine men.

Despite the two-man disadvantage, Town soldiered on and reduced the deficit to one when Jahkari Furbert was picked out at the back post before controlling and planting a firm drive beyond the outstretched arm of Darrell.

With time ticking down, Town goalkeeper Silvester was penalised for handling the ball outside of his box. Midfielder Jahzardae Samuels was upset with the decision and kicked the ball over the fence to receive his second yellow card and reduce his team to eight players at the finish.

Scorers

Dandy Town: N Spence 68, J Furbert 82

Devonshire Cougars: C Brangman 29, 33, 45

Teams

Dandy Town (3-5-2): P Silvester 7 — A Daniels 5 (sub: T Smith, 60min 5), T Webb 6, M Issac 5 — E Outerbridge 6, N Spence 6, J Samuels 5, T Goater 5, J Furbert 6 — N Ntalu 5, D Jones (sub: O Wilson, 87). Substitutes not used: A Harvey, S Darrell. Booked: Webb, Samuels. Sent off: Issac, Goater, Samuels.

Devonshire Cougars (4-2-3-1): Q Darrell 6 — J Brimmer 6 (sub: M Paynter, 46 5), Z White 5, L Millett 5, J Thomas 5 -- M Thomas 5 (sub: J Wade, 46 5), S Burrows 6 — C Caisey 6 (sub: C Burns, 63 5), D Daniels 5, D Coddington 6 — C Brangman 9 (sub: C Albuoy, 63 5). Substitutes not used: Z Simmons, M Mills. Booked: Domico Coddington, M Thomas.

Referee: T Simons