St George’s 0 Devonshire Cougars 1

Devonshire Cougars made it three wins in a row, as they travelled to the East End to defeat St George’s Colts at Wellington Oval.

A first-half strike from Drewonde Bascome proved to be enough for the “big cats” to claim all three points and continue their good start to the league campaign.

“The spirit is high within the team right now and we have been able to put together a good string of wins,” Cougars head coach Vance Brown said. “We probably should have had a few more today, but we need to improve on our finishing, particularly when facing a quality keeper like Freddy Hall.”

Cougars were in the driver’s seat from the start of the match, with their midfield moving the ball well, and the front trio of Bascome, Lejuan Simmons and Che-kai Caisey combining well to create chances.

All three had good looks early in the match, but shot wide of the near post from tight angles.

Caisey then had the best chance of the game when he received a pass just inside the box all alone. The young forward was obviously surprised to be in such a position and seemed stuck in between minds of slipping the ball to his strike partner or taking the opportunity on himself.

That moment of indecision allowed the defence to recover and the chance was lost.

Caisey made amends moments later, however, when his square pass from the right found Bascome whose first-time strike found the top corner for his third goal in two games.

The half-time break seemed to have a calming effect on the home team, who came out from the interval looking a lot more comfortable in possession.

They were able to play themselves into the match a bit, allowing forward Clay Darrell to breach the defensive line on a couple of occasions. But the Cougars defence, anchored by the centre-back pair of Zeko White and Zekiro White, recovered well in both instances to extinguish the danger.

As the home team continued to chase the match, Cougars were finding openings of their own and might have put the game away earlier if not for a number of fine saves from Hall.

The former Bermuda No 1 twice went full length to deny Zekiro White and Zari Simmons, whose shots from the edge of the box were destined for the top corner. He then made a good reflex save to push a Lejuan Simmons volley from close range over the bar for corner.

St George’s were given a lifeline in the 80th minute when Zari Simmons received a straight red card for a late challenge from behind. However, the home side were unable to make good on the man advantage, and eventually ran out of both steam and time.

SCORERS

Devonshire Cougars: Bascome 32.

TEAMS

St George’s (4-3-3) F Hall — G Wade, J Carlington (sub: O Bascome, 13min), A Francis, J Darrell — D Signor, E Signor (sub: M Simmons, 75), J Brangman — J Dickinson, S Blair-Paynter (sub: L Dill, 62), C Darrell. Substitutes not used: C Ottley, W Broadley, C Burns, K Ottley. Booked: Bascome, Dickinson.

Devonshire Cougars (4-3-3): A Daniels — D Williams, Zekiro White, Zeko White, T Tucker — C Maybury, Chris Caisey, Z Simmons — Che-kai Caisey (sub: Moses Steede, 79), L Simmons (sub: E Darrell, 84), D Bascome (sub: Mark Steede, 84). Substitutes not used: C Albuoy, K Trott, L Millet, M Battersbee. Booked: Mark Steede. Sent off: Z Simmons.

Referee: L Christopher.