Boulevard 3 Devonshire Cougars 1

Aldonte Smith scored and had an assist as Boulevard secured their second straight league win of the season at Lord’s today.

Clay Darrell gave the home side a dream start when his wind-assisted long ball from just inside of his own half caught Kioshi Trott, the Devonshire Cougars goalkeeper, off his line and dipped into the roof of the net.

Before Cougars knew what had hit them, Smith beat Trott with an angled shot at the near post after the home side were awarded a free kick.

Cougars finally got on the scoresheet when Allan Douglas headed in from a free kick.

However, Ernest Trott slotted in Smith’s short pass in the box to restore Boulevard’s two-goal lead and make the points safe.

“Today was another marvellous performance carrying on from the Dandy Town game,” Malcolm Hewey, the Boulevard coach, said. “The momentum and morale among the guys has been very high.

“We knew from jump we had to be compact and we wanted to get on top of Cougars as early as possible and maintained that. I couldn’t have asked for anything else.”

Despite the loss, Cougars remain ahead of ninth-placed Boulevard on goal difference.

Cougars suffered an early setback when influential midfielder Moses Steede injured his foot and was replaced Demetre Daniels.

Things then quickly went from bad to worse for the visiting side shortly after when Darrell opened the scoring with a goal from out of nowhere. The forward gained possession about five yards inside his own half and sent a long ball into the box which Trott misjudged and paid the price.

Smith doubled Boulevard’s lead three minutes later from a set piece.

The forward controlled Takeyhi Walker’s free kick and squeezed the ball inside of Trott’s near post as the Cougars defence stood flat-footed in anticipation of the assistant referee’s flag for offside.

Boulevard had the ball in the net again but Khiry Easton was standing in an offside position when he tapped in Darrell’s rebound after Trott was unable to gather cleanly.

Cougars finally came into the game and started creating chances near the break.

Zari Simmons made a forceful run from midfield before firing just wide of the far post and then blasted another effort just over the bar.

Substitute Daniels then struck the bottom near post with a low shot from a free kick after Douglas was fouled in dangerous territory.

Cougars picked up where they left off at the start of the second half and were finally rewarded when Douglas headed in Shaki Pearman’s free kick after right back Nazeem Augustus handled the ball deep in his own half.

Boulevard then suffered another blow when midfielder Nico Smith injured his leg during a tackle.

Darrell squandered a golden opportunity to kill the game off when he failed to convert a breakaway.

However, the forward redeemed himself moments later when he broke away down the right flank and passed to Smith, who squared the ball to Trott for a close-range finish to signal game over.

Cougars went close to pulling another goal back in stoppage time when Daniels latched onto Douglas’s cross only to be denied again by the woodwork.

SCORERS

Boulevard 3

Darrell, 23

Smith, 26

Trott, 89

Devonshire Cougars 1

Douglas, 47

TEAMS

Boulevard (4-3-3): R Burchall — T Butterfield, J Williams, A Famous, N Augustus — T Walker, E Trott, N Smith (sub: A Foggo, 76min) — A Smith, C Darrell, K Easton (sub: D Taylor, 70). Substitutes not used: Z Stovell, Y Darrell, S Fostin. Booked: Walker.

Devonshire Cougars (4-3-3): K Trott — D Williams, Z White, Z Simmons, C Matthews — O Bascome, Z Simmons, M Steede (sub: D Daniels, 11) — L Tota (sub: J Seymour, 61), S Pearman (sub: J Mallory, 83), A Douglas. Substitutes not used: D Simmons, M Steede, N Carmichael, W Sinclair. Booked: Z Simmons

Referee: L Christopher.