Flanagan’s Onions 1 Devonshire Cougars 1

Omar Butterfield, the Devonshire Cougars coach, cut a frustrated figure after his team lost precious ground in the Premier Division title race after being held to a draw by relegation threatened Flanagan’s Onions at a windswept Goose Gosling Field on Saturday night.

The visitors, who were reduced to ten men after defender Lamont Brangman was shown straight red for violent conduct in the 66th minute, squandered a lead and a handful of gilt-edged chances that came back to haunt them.

Cougars went into the match with a chance to leapfrog champions Robin Hood into second place ahead of the latter’s fixture away to Somerset Trojans today.

Zekiro White, the Cougars captain, gave the visitors the lead with a stunning strike from outside of the box.

But Onions hit back with Shakar Swan arrowing in a shot at the near post from a set-piece to rescue a point for the home side and put a dent in Cougars’s title bid.

“A draw feels like a loss,” Butterfield lamented. “We dropped two precious points and I feel very frustrated.

“We went away from what we were supposed to be doing and if we do that then we are not going to get the results that we deserve. We didn’t put our chances away and not working how we are supposed to.

“When complacency sets in it’s a dangerous thing and we just have to go back to the drawing board.”

Cougars now trail leaders PHC Zebras — who they will face on March 18 at PHC Field — by five points while Onions remain second from the bottom still seven points from safety.

Cougars pressed early and took the deserved lead during a good spell of possession in spectacular fashion through White’s wonder strike. The Cougars central defender intercepted a partial clearance from a corner outside of the box and turned sharply between two players before firing past Lejaun Matthews, the Onions goalkeeper, from 25 yards out.

At this stage Cougars were running rampant and stretching Onions with their good ball movement in spite of the windy conditions that made play difficult, especially running into the wind.

Mark Steede, the striker, had a speculative effort from outside of the area roll inches wide and then missed a sitter from point blank range after being picked out by Jawonday Smith’s inch perfect cross.

Onions eventually regrouped and started to cause problems on the break with their searing pace and long balls played into space behind the Cougars defence for their forwards to run onto.

On one such move Jahvon Morgan, the midfielder, passed to forward Treshun Smith whose effort was saved by Casey Hardtman, the Cougars goalkeeper.

Smith also had a snapshot from an angle plucked out of the air by Hardtman during another raid down the right flank.

Onions’s relentless pressure finally paid off when they equalised from a free-kick on the egde of Cougars’s box. Swan’s initial free-kick struck the wall. But he was given a second chance after Cougars failed to clear their lines and made no mistake this time as he drove in at the near post in heavy traffic right on the half-time whistle.

Both teams had further chances to score after the break with Onions enjoying the lionshare of them and unable to capitalise on their numerical advantage after Brangman was sent off for kicking out at Swan during a midfield skirmish.

SCORERS

Flanagan’s Onions

Swan 45

Devonshire Cougars

White 22

Flanagan’s Onions (4-4-2): L Matthews - N Dunkle, Markez Laws, Martel Laws, N Anglin (sub: P Smith, 87)- M Aden, J Morgan (sub: C Burns, 66), J Higson (sub: M Lindsay-Bailey, 72), S Swan - A Rocker, T Smith. Substitutes not used: O Wilson, M Field. Booked: Martel Laws, Higson

Devonshire Cougars (4-5-1): C Hardtman - L Brangman, D Simmons, Z White, J Mouchette - N Simmons, O Bascome, N Carmichael (sub: J Wade, 52), J Smith, L Tota (sub: S Jones, 79)- M Steede (sub: A Douglas, 66). Substitutes not used: Z Simmons, K Trott. Booked: White, Steede. Sent off: Brangman.

Referee: L Cann