Devonshire Cougars 2 St George’s Colts 3

St George’s Colts came from behind twice to edge Devonshire Cougars in their opening Dudley Eve Trophy group match at Goose Gosling Field on Sunday night.

Striker Tah-Ki Tucker grabbed the winner just before the interval during an opening half that yielded all five goals scored in this high-scoring but scrappy contest.

Kamali Davis and Machi Battersbee had put the Cougars ahead on two occasions, with St George’s captain Kashe Hall and then Jahron Dickinsoneach restoring parity for the east enders before Tucker’s winner.

Fresh off a heavy defeat to Premier Division champions PHC Zebras in their previous outing in the Charity Cup, FA Cup holders St George’s started on the front foot with Hall testing Cougars goalkeeper Kenneth DeSilva early.

Despite an early missed chance by Cougars’ Battersbee, St George’s were forced to chase the game when Cougars took the lead somewhat against the run of play. Defender Jecoa Thomas played a high ball into the box which St George’s counterpart Ricardo Phipps handled, and Cougars forward Davis slammed the resulting penalty kick past Jahquil Hill.

St George’s swiftly regrouped and were back on level terms thanks to a brilliant piece of individual skill by Hall who controlled Malachi Trott’s deep cross, dribbled to the byline and beat DeSilva from the tightest of angles with a low shot.

Cougars regained the lead when Battersbee’s shot in heavy traffic from around the penalty spot took a deflection off of Phipps on its way past a hapless Hill.

But St George’s equalised shortly after when Dickinson ghosted in behind the defence and drilled Jarazinho Bassett’s precision through pass into the roof of the net with a thunderous left-footed shot from inside of the area.

With half time looming, Tucker then popped up with what proved to be the winner. The Cougars defence failed to deal with a long ball which Tucker latched onto and fired past a completely exposed DeSilva.

After all was said and done on the pitch, St George’s team official and club president Mishael Paynter declined The Royal Gazette’s request for comment while counterpart Kwame Steede cited poor finishing and costly mistakes as the catalyst for his team’s demise.

“Unfortunately for us, football does not win games. We played good football but we have to put the ball in the net,” Steede said.

“Our two goals were quality and we strung like 20 passes before we scored the second goal. Those were the positives for me.

“The negatives is just our individual mistakes. Their three goals did not come from them beating us off the dribble or constant passes around us. They beat us off our individual mistakes and they executed the ball well.”

In the opening Dudley Eve clash, Paget Lions defeated Young Men’s Social Club 3-1 with Shakir Smith netting a brace and national cricket team captain Delray Rawlins grabbing their other goal. Giniko Butterfield replied for Social Club.