North Village 0 Devonshire Cougars 1

One win doesn't make a season, but this early season derby result at Bernard Park shouldn't be downplayed as Devonshire Cougars were deserved winners despite playing with ten men for the final 33 minutes.

Certainly the victory will do plenty for Cougars' confidence, having been forced to play second fiddle to the Rams last season. With six points from two away games, Cougars have sent out an early warning of their intentions.

The goal that settled this top clash between two Martonmere Cup semi-finalists came in the 39th minute through captain Kwame Steede which gave Cougars a deserved lead at the half. After that they had to hold out at the other end as defending league champions Village responded to the sending-off with increased pressure.

Kori Goddard's bad challenge floored Kimandi Binns in the 57th minute and had referee Leroy Wilson reaching straight for the red card.

"I thought it was a harsh decision on my player," said Cougars technical director Quilton Joell afterwards.

"I know it was a foul but I didn't think it warranted a sending off. But it rallied us a little bit. It happened at a crucial time and the momentum was switching, but it actually worked in our favour because we started to be more aggressive defensively. That was a big part of our success today."

Not intimidated by Village's record and reputation, Cougars almost shocked their hosts with a goal as early as the second minute after a ball through the defence caught last man Kofi Dill struggling with his footing before the speedy Raymond Beach pounced to put a shot against the base of the post with goalkeeper Daniel Johnson beaten.

Beach troubled Village with his speed as he broke through again midway through the half to blast an effort over the top.

It was a competitive half with Village looking threatening through Ralph Bean Jr., Dwight Warren and Kevin Jennings. But it was Cougars who created the better chances as midfielder Kwame Steede had a free kick from the edge of the box tipped over the bar by Johnson.

Village were forced into a substitution in the 32nd minute as Warren limped off with a thigh injury and was replaced by Keith Jennings. Seven minutes later Cougars broke the deadlock when the 23-year-old Steede drove an effort from the edge of the box into the far bottom corner.

With the home team trailing at home at the half, the crowd were anticipating an even better second half, knowing that Village would come out fighting after the restart. They did, as a corner within 30 seconds by Kevin Jennings saw the advancing `keeper Ricardo Brangman fail to catch a high ball on the edge of the six-yard box.

Bean tried his luck after that with a long range shot that just missed the far post. Then Daniel Jennings' effort was turned around the post as the pressure was kept on Cougars with Jennings also putting another effort wide.

"I want to give credit to the players for coming out and applying the game plan," said Joell.

"This season we've been trying to work on our goals-against and in order to stop teams we're trying to focus on zonal defending and getting players to cover each other much faster to take away the penetration. At times today there was a lapse but I still see progress."

North Village: D.Johnson, J.Boyles, M.Hansey, K.Dill, K.Binns, J.Davis, K.Bean (S.Goater 73 mins), D.Jennings, Kev.Jennings, R.Bean, D.Warren (Kei.Jennings 32 mins).

Dev.Cougars: R.Brangman, D.Eve, S.Smith, O.Butterfield, J.DeShields, K.Steede, J.Salaam (L.Tota 86 mins), D.Coddington, K.Goddard, R.Beach, M.Smith (S.Minors 54 mins).

Men of the match: Daniel Jennings (Village), K.Steede (Cougars).

Yellow cards: K.Dill, K.Bean, J.Boyles, K.Binns (Village), J.Salaam (Cougars). Red card: K.Goddard (Cougars).

Referee: Leroy Wilson.