Devonshire Cougars 1 Dandy Town 2

Second-half goals from Kwame Steede and Eusebio Blankendal earned Dandy Town a crucial win against Devonshire Cougars at Devonshire Recreation Club yesterday.

The win moves Town closer to third place, but more importantly, further clear of the relegation zone.

“The result was significant because I think with 20 points we have secured our position outside of the bottom portion of the table,” Devarr Boyles, the Town coach, said. “Now, it’s about developing some consistency in our play.”

Although the visiting side controlled much of the match, they were forced to claw their way back into pole position after going down to a Jefrey Guerrero goal in the 25th minute.

“Although we were a goal down, I thought our first-half performance was encouraging,” Boyles added. “We were able to get in behind the defence a few times but lacked a finish. In the second half we executed a bit better.”

In the early stages of the match both teams struggled to navigate a difficult surface.

It took 25 minutes for the first clear chance and it fell to Town’s Michael Parsons who broke through after his deep run was nicely picked out. The midfielder, however, took too long to pull the trigger allowing the Cougars defence to recover with a timely tackle.

The disappointment of the lost opportunity was compounded when Cougars went down the other end and scored. Guerrero was played through as he overlapped on the counter attack and did well to steer his effort past the onrushing goalkeeper.

The home team had an opportunity to extend their lead before the half, but Shaki Pearman, who found himself with acres of space on the left, could not beat goalkeeper Jaiden Manders. Town started the second half in control and within five minutes of the restart had found an equaliser when Steede popped up at the back post to head home an Omar Wilson cross from the right.

Angelo Simmons, the Town captain, then went close when his curing free kick from the left forced goalkeeper Lovintz Tota to punch bravely in traffic.

Cougars brought on Alan Douglas Jr midway through the half in an effort to liven their attack. The pacy striker linked up well with Che Brangman on a few occasions, but neither were able to carve out any clear-cut chances.

The telling blow came five minutes from time when Blankendal combined with several players down the middle of the pitch before unleashing a firm shot from the edge of the box, which Tota could only get his fingertips to as it sailed into the top corner.

Goals

Devonshire Cougars: Steede 61, Blankendal 85

Dandy Town: Guerrero 25

TEAMS

Devonshire Cougars: L Tota — D Williams (sub: J Amory, 63min), Zakiro White, Zeko White, J Mouchette, T Tucker, D Daniels, Z Simmons, J Guerrero (sub: A Douglas, 65), S Pearman (sub: J Wade, 78), Che Brangman. Substitutes not used: Cashun Brangman, M Steede, N Carmichael.

Dandy Town: J Manders — K Lathan, A Furbert, K Simmons, O Wilson (sub: G Sampson, 72), T Manders, D Ming, M Parsons (sub: S Darrell, 72), E Blankendal, K Steede, A Simmons. Substitutes not used: N Smith, J Johnson, J Duncan, T Woodley.

Referee: A Francis.