Young Men’s Social Club 1 Devonshire Cougars 0

Captain Ryan Parris scored the lone goal in the second half to lead Young Men’s Social Club to an important victory over fellow strugglers Devonshire Cougars at Police Field yesterday

Parris, who scored with just over 20 minutes of the game remaining, was thrilled with the victory, which moved his side up to eighth position and three points clear of the relegation zone.

“We needed to bounce back,” Parris said. “We started well with a few victories and then slacked off, so these three points are vital.

“We needed to win this and we looked good for most of the game. We stuck together, limiting them to very few chances.”

Social Club opened the game with attacking intent and their forward-thinking mindset earned them two golden opportunities to break the deadlock.

A corner from Giniko Butterfield was poorly cleared by the Cougars defence and striker Josh Hardtman tried to prod the ball into the net, but Cougars stand-in goalkeeper, forward Domico Coddington, made an excellent reflex save.

A few minutes later, Malique Wilson should have found the target off a deflected cross by Jakida Richardson.

Cougars had one of their few sustained periods of possession in the middle of the first half but Social Club's deep defensive line allowed them to keep their opponents at bay between the centre circle and penalty area.

Social Club striker Hardtman was replaced by Jomeko Mallory at half-time with an apparent injury and the home side started to use the left-sided duo of Jakida Richardson and Pierre Smith more often. They also stepped their defence up to the halfway line, and that was the tactical switch to pay dividends.

Substitute Mallory intercepted a loose pass by Cougars captain Zeko White. He played a beautiful switch to Trey Tucker, who held it up and played it through perfectly for Parris to side-foot first-time past the despairing arms of Coddington.

Cougars' profligacy in the final third and lack of composure on the ball continued in the final 20 minutes when they huffed and puffed with very little result.

Their best chance fell to Jayori Beach, who dragged his shot wide from Jazario Brimmer’s cutback

SCORERS

Young Men’sSocial Club: Parris 69

TEAMS

Young Men’sSocial Club (4-2-3-1): S Tuzo 6 – T Tucker 6, K Butterfield 6 (sub: C Woolridge, 75min), K Smith 6, J Richardson 5 – A Matthews 6, R Parris 6 – M Wilson 5, G Butterfield 5, P Smith 6 – J Hardtman 5 (sub: J Mallory, 46 5). Substitutes not used: J Seymour, T Butterfield, B Swan.

Devonshire Cougars (4-1-4-1): D Coddington 6 – O Smith 5, M Thomas 6 (sub: L Thomas, 76), Z White 5, N Carmichael 5 (sub: Cashun Brangman, 90) – Z Simmons 6 (sub: N Simmons, 83) – M Paynter 5, D Daniels 5, S Burrows 5, J Fox 5 – Chae Brangman 5 (sub: J Brimmer, 76). Booked: Carmichael, Paynter, Daniels.

Referee: J Springer (Barbados)