Devonshire Cougars 4 Young Men’s Social Club 1

Devonshire Cougars capitalised on costly errors and poor defending to come away with a convincing win over Young Men’s Social Club at Devonshire Rec last night.

The home side prevailed courtesy of a brace from striker Chae Brangman, substitute Christian Albouy and Trey Tucker’s own goal. Social Club’s only goal was Mical Hardtman’s early strike.

Victory for Social Club would have almost certainly assured them of a place in the Premier Division next season. But the result still leaves them in danger of the drop, if Wolves can pull off two unlikely victories to end their season.

While not mathematically down, Hamilton Parish remain five points adrift of safety with two games to play, including against Social Club on the final day.

Brangman, who scored each side of the break, was delighted to come away with the points and two score goals to warm up for the upcoming FA Cup final.

“At the beginning of the game we came with the momentum and then lost it, but at the end of the day got the result that we needed,” he told The Royal Gazette.

“It feels good to score. I am getting ready and trying to take the momentum into the final.”

Cougars got off to a flying start with Brangman breaking the deadlock with their very first attack. Social Club failed to clear a corner with the ball eventually falling to Brangman, who pivoted inside the area and buried a shot into the bottom corner.

The visiting side nearly equalised straight from the kick-off when Ryan Parris rattled the bar with an ambitious shot from the centre circle.

However, the Social Club captain’s night came to an early end after limping off with a serious-looking calf injury.

Cougars were in control but were pegged back when Hardtman’s vicious volley from 25 yards left goalkeeper Q'Shai Darrell clutching at thin air, leaving the teams deadlocked at the break.

Cougars also started the second half on the front foot and regained the lead when Brangman volleyed home from 25 yards after finding himself in space.

The hosts doubled their advantage when Tucker nodded substitute Juma Mouchette’s cross into his own net.

Albouy also made an impact coming off the bench and got his name on to the scoresheet when he buried Charmari Burns’s pullback across the goalmouth into an empty net to put the icing on his team’s resounding win.

“Tonight, definitely in the second half, we weren’t disciplined and I thought we made some horrible decisions,” admitted Social Club coach Mike Smith.

“A good team punishes you for bad mistakes,” he said. “We have to put the ball in the net in order to win.”

As for Parris’s injury, Smith added: “It looks a bit more serious than initially thought. He’ll get looked at, but it may be over for him for the season.”

SCORERS

Devonshire Cougars: Chae Brangman 2, 49, Tucker og 60, Albouy 82

Young Men’s Social Club: Hardtman 18

TEAMS

Devonshire Cougars (4-1-4-1): Q Darrell 6 — M Paynter 6 (sub: D Coddington, 69min 6), L Millette 6, Z White 6 (sub: M Thomas, 69 6), J Brimmer 6 — S Burrows 6 — Z Simmons 6, C Burns 6, Cashun Brangman 6, D Daniels 7 — Chae Brangman 7 (sub: C Albouy, 69 6). Substitutes not used: none.

Young Men's Social Club (4-1-4-1): R Evans 5 — K Smith 5 (sub: J Seymour, 58 5), T Butterfield 5, J Richardson 5, M Rudo (sub: B Swan Jr, 69) — R Parris (sub: P Smith, 18 6), M Wilson 6, J Hardtman 6, T Tucker 6, M Hardtman 7 — G Butterfield 5. Substitutes not used: J Mallory, A Matthews, K Singh, K Gilbert. Booked: J Hardtman.

Referee: O Hamilton (Jamaica).