Boulevard 0

Devonshire Cougars 1

Devonshire Cougars were victorious in their "chess battle" with Boulevard thanks to a long-range effort from Sean Brangman at BAA Field yesterday.

Brangman's second half strike denied Blazers an opportunity to put some serious daylight between themselves and the defending champions who are now just two points behind their cross-town rivals.

Both teams largely cancelled each other out and it always seemed like the game would be decided by an individual piece of brilliance, or a calamitous error.

And in this case, it was a mixture of both.

While Brangman's goal deserved the praise it received from assistant coach Gary Mallory, serious questions should be asked of Blazers goalkeeper Shejaun Swan who completely misjudged the flight of the ball.

Not long after his costly mistake, the hapless 'keeper limped off injured, and with Blazers having no shot stopper on the bench defender Damali Bell was forced to go between the sticks.

Despite playing without a recognised 'keeper, Blazers finished the stronger of the two teams and really should have found an equaliser through Angelo Simmons who squandered two one-on-one opportunities.

Cougars assistant coach, Gary Mallory, stressed how important it had been for Cougars to prevent Blazers extending their lead at the top of the table and bounce back from last weekend's heavy defeat against PHC.

"This is a very important victory for us," said Mallory. "Although the season is a long race we didn't want Boulevard getting much further ahead of us.

"It's good to see us bounce back from last weekend's defeat against PHC.

"We showed that when we bring our game we can beat anyone in this league. Sean Brangman took his goal very well and I always felt the game was going to be decided by a goal like that.

"It was like a chess game and these two teams are quite evenly matched."

Blazers almost took an early lead when Simmons saw his shot from the edge of the box palmed onto the post by Cougars' 'keeper Ricardo Brangman.

At the other end Cougars player/coach Kwame Steede somehow headed over from close range just before the interval.

The second half continued in the same vein with neither team budging an inch, although Tumani Steede perhaps should have done better from a rebound after his cousin, Kwame, had seen a shot blocked by Aaron Nelson.

Boulevard: S.Swan (S.Furburt, 77) N.Smith, A.Gibbons, D.Bell, M.Parsons, R.Burgess (D.Bascome 75), N.Smith (A.Nelson, 45) C.Simmons, Q.Maynard, D.Stovell, A.Simmons

Substitutes not used: K.Bean, D.Taylor, M.Hewey, T.Wilson

Yellow cards: D.Stovell, Q.Maynard, M.Parsons

Devonshire Cougars: R.Brangman, J.Butterfield, K.Franks, I.Mallory, J.Seymour (T.Smith, 66), S. Brangman, M.Steede, Z.White, K.Steede, K.Tucker (D.Simmons, 45)

Substitutes not used: R.Goddard, Z.White, T.Woodley, L.Brangman, L.Simmons

Yellow cards: K.Steede, K.Franks

Goals: S.Brangman, 66

Referee: E.Holmes

Man-of-the-match: K.Franks (Cougars)