A second-half goal by Lozendro Symonds earned Devonshire Colts a hard-fought point against Somerset Trojans on Saturday night.

Leo Burgess, the Trojans winger, handed the defending Premier Division champions an early lead at Somerset Cricket Club with a well-taken finish from inside the box after six minutes.

Colts, however, almost found an immediate leveller when Kyle Jones drove into the Trojans area and struck a low show that hit the far post before bouncing back into the striker’s path.

Unfortunately for the visiting side, Jones was unable to correct his feet in time and failed to direct the rebound on target, with the ball flying harmlessly over the crossbar.

As expected against newly promoted Colts, Trojans were dominating at a wet and windy West End, with Tahj Wade trying his luck with an audacious overhead kick from a corner, which was easily saved by the impressive Gregory Rose, the visiting goalkeeper.

After the interval, Trojans continued to apply pressure to the Colts goal, with Burgess firing a low shot from the edge of the area that Rose did well to block with his feet.

Wade, the Trojans striker, then drew a fine save from Rose with a rasping effort that the Colts goalkeeper thwarted by acrobatically driving to his right and tipping the ball around a post.

On 70 minutes, Colts drew level through Symonds, their livewire captain, who finished from the edge of the area after finding a yard of space to place a low shot past Shaquille Bean, the Trojans goalkeeper.

Colts made a winning start to their return to the top flight with a 4-2 home win over Hamilton Parish last weekend and very nearly pulled off a splendid “smash and grab”.

A ball pumped over the top from deep inside the Colts half drew Bean off his line, with the Trojans goalkeeper rushing out to clear the danger, but he managed only to collide with a defender and Symonds just outside the area.

The ball broke invitingly for Symonds, but, with the empty goal at his mercy, he squirted his effort wide, much to the despair of Ray Jones, the Colts coach, and the rest of the visiting side’s bench.

Colts were very nearly made to pay for Symonds’s shocking miss, with the home side heaping pressure on their goal late on in search of a winner, but they could not beat the in-form Rose.

Jones said he was more than happy with a point against Trojans, who made a winning start to their league campaign with a 3-1 victory over Boulevard, the other promoted team from the First Division last season.

“I thought we were a little unlucky, as we had a few chances, but we’re happy to claim a point at Trojans, the defending champions,” Jones said.

“To come here and get a draw is quite an accomplishment for us, as survival is our aim this season. The conditions were not easy and we had to dig deep and show plenty of character, so I’m very pleased with my players.”

In Saturday night’s First Division match in Somerset, Flanagan’s Onions defeated Ireland Island Rangers 4-0. Flanagan’s scorers were Kevin Ronaldson, Mike Lindsay-Bayley, Darren Thompson and Treshun Smith.