St. George's 0

Dev Cougars 2

Heys Wolffe and Raymond Beach tore the home team's defence apart as Cougars romped to this comprehensive Premier Division victory at Wellington Oval yesterday.

Last week St George's were unfortunate in not grabbing a share of the points from Devonshire Colts in their home opener which they lost 1-0. But they never once looked capable of winning against opponents who played aggressively and pushed powerfully forward from start to finish.

The goals came from their skilful forwards Wolffe and Beach, the former striking first after 24 minutes and Beach hitting the second after 40 minutes - and the pair came awfully close to scoring more throughout the game.

Cougars underlined their superiority from the start with Beach firing a fierce drive just wide of the post from 14 yards after a mere 20 seconds - and for the rest of the half Colts were forced to play catch-up.

The home team's defence played well to contain the visitors for the first 20 minutes, but after 24 minutes Cougars took a deserved lead through Wolffe.

The talented forward collected the ball about 12 yards outside the penalty box, smartly dribbled some 15 yards to the left and as the defence back-pedalled he fired home an angled left-footed drive from 16 yards to give them a 1-0 lead.

Inspired by Wolffe and Beach, Cougars continued to hold a decisive edge for the rest of the half while Colts staged isolated counter attacks with their best chance being an 18-yard free kick by player-coach Neil Paynter that sailed inches over the bar. After 40 minutes Wolffe and Beach teamed up again. This time Wolffe's long ball from midway in Cougars' half found Beach who masterfully dribbled around centreback Uroy Fox and firmly directed his shot home from 15 yards.

Colts came alive after this and were unlucky not to score before half-time with the Cougars defence scrambling two goalbound shots away before skipper Marlon Outerbridge ended the raid by slamming the ball over from 13 yards.

Colts goalkeeper Troy Hall was sharp to direct a well targeted ball from Wolffe wide with his boot after 46 minutes and deny a third goal, but Colts played with more purpose and were inspired up front by forward Sinclair Gibbons.

After 60 minutes Colts' striker Kenny Butterfield blew a chance from close-in after Paynter supplied him with a pass and after 80 minutes Gibbons headed a Kervin Moreno cross at goalkeeper Ricardo Brangman.

But between these chances Wolffe and Beach remained a menace to the defence, both staging direct solo runs with confidence.

At the end, Beach sent a hard drive from 16 yards that sailed off goalkeeper Hall's body and in injury time substitute Wali Salaam headed a cross from Wolffe inches over.

St. George's: T.Hall; K.Moreno, N.Paynter, U.Fox, D.Bailey; D.Wright, E.Signor (K.Williams, 70 mins), M.Outerbridge, G.Foggo; K.Butterfield (M.Crane, 86 mins), S.Gibbons.

Devonshire Colts: R.Brangman; D.Brangman, S.Smith, G.Butterfield, E.Richardson; K.Goddard, J.Salaam (C.Smith, 68 mins), C.Darrell; R.Beach (W.Salaam, 87 mins), M.Smith (R.Clacken, 65 mins), H.Wolffe.

Men of the match: Sinclair Gibbons (Colts); Heys Wolffe (Cougars)

Referee: Lyndon Raynor