Devonshire Cougars 5 Somerset Eagles 1

Devonshire Cougars recovered from an early deficit to score five unanswered goals in a crunching win at Devonshire Recreation Club yesterday.

Kadeem Abraham gave Somerset Eagles a surprise fifteenth-minute lead, which was cancelled out by Zari Simmons and Drewonde Bascome before the break, followed by a second from Bascome. This left Lejuan Simmons and substitute Jasekani Wade to close out the scoring in a match watched by avid Cougars supporter David Burt, the Premier, who found some joy at the end of a troubled weekend.

The game started very lively with both teams sporting quick front lines. Cougars had Simmons, Bascome and Che’Kai Caisey while Eagles countered with the youthful strike duo of Nathan Rego and Ethan Fubler, ably assisted by the alternating Samori Greenidge-Saltus and Abraham from midfield.

Although Cougars were the first to settle into the game, it would be the Eagles to take the lead when Abraham beat his marker to a Rego cross before squeezing his shot into the near post of Cougars goalkeeper Ajai Daniels.

Cougars equalised a few minutes later when Simmons redirected a Zeko White header into the centre of the goal with a cheeky back-heel that caught the Eagles goalkeeper Jermaine Rumley flat-footed as it rolled passed his right arm into the net.

Bascome put Cougars in front for good when he ran on to a perfect through-ball from Lejuan Simmons to beat the onrushing Rumley with a low shot into the corner.

Cougars midfielder Calin Maybury was the chief playmaker, spreading passes to his forwards and wingbacks with ease. One of his inch-perfect passes found Bascome, who beat his marker before slotting past a stranded Rumley for his second and the team’s third.

Lejuan Simmons netted the fourth when his shot from a Wade cross took a deflection off Dion Woolridge’s legs to wrong-foot Rumley.

The home side were dominant in the second half, with Daniels a mere spectator. Eagles mounted a rare attack but Rego’s cross to the back post, intended for substitute Koshun Durrant, was blocked by Darren Williams and cleared to safety. Unlike his opposite number, Rumley was kept busy all second half. First, he did well to hold on to a straight drive by Maybury from the top of the box before pulling off a point-blank reflex save from White, the Cougars captain, from the six-yard box.

Unfortunately, Rumley couldn’t prevent the fifth when he collided with his own defender in his attempt to punch a cross. The ball landed at the feet of Wade, who had the simple task to tap into an empty net.

“I thought we started a bit slow and didn’t stick to our pace,’ a reserved Cougars coach Vance Brown said. “However, once we picked it up, we dominated the match. Our problem has been scoring goals. Today we got five and could’ve had ten.”

SCORERS

Devonshire Cougars: Z Simmons 30, D Bascome 40, 60, L Simmons 62, Wade 80

Somerset Eagles: K Abraham 15

TEAMS

Devonshire Cougars (4-3-3): A Daniels — T Tucker, Zeko White, Zekiro White, D Williams — C Maybury, Chris Caisey, Z Simmons — L Simmons (sub: M Battersbee, 83min), D Bascome (sub: N Simmons, 73), Che’Kai Caisey (sub: J Wade, 60). Substitutions not used: M Steede, L Millett, C Albuoy, A Cannonier.

Somerset Eagles (4-4-2): J Rumley — M Iris-Simmons, K Evans, D Woolridge, S Lambert — S Greenidge-Saltus, A Telford, T Wilson (sub: T Wade, 62), K Abraham — E Fubler (sub: K Durrant, 66), N Rego. Substitutions not used: A Butterfield, D Joell, A Morrissey, D Simmons, G Smith. Booked: Iris-Simmons, Evans, Abraham.

Referee: G Swainson