Devonshire Cougars 5 Devonshire Colts 0

Devonshire Cougars claimed bragging rights with an overpowering display in a one-sided ‘Devonshire Derby’ affair against neighbours Devonshire Colts, in their Boxing Day contest at Police Field.

Three goals in the opening fifteen minutes cancelled any plans that the youthful Colts may have had of challenging their more seasoned opponents in their Premier Division contest.

“We were prepared for this game,” stated a satisfied Cougars coach, Kwame Steede.

“The guys made sacrifices over the holidays and trained hard for this. We pressed them hard and it paid off,” he said.

Cougars started at a quick pace forcing Colts on the back foot from the first whistle. The high pressure led to the opening goal when Dezion Davis miscued his clearance, which went directly to Kurtis Minors, who was waiting at the top of the box.

Minors controlled before hitting a low drive into the corner of Colts’s goalkeeper Jaden Mills-Furbert’s net.

The lead would double within two minutes when veteran defender Michael Williams was adjudged to have handled Machi Battersbee’s cross, leaving visiting Jamaican Fifa referee Daneon Parchment no choice but to award a penalty.

Domico Coddington sent Mills-Furbert the wrong way with his spot kick to send the Cougars 2-0 ahead.

Cougars would add a third in the fourteenth minute when Chekai Caisey played an inch-perfect through ball for Elisha Darrell to run onto before hitting a snap shot that beat keeper Mills-Furbert for pace to sail into the roof of the net.

Colts threatened to pull one back when Rahzir Smith-Jones’s low free-kick to the near post forced Cougars goalkeeper, Kioshi Trott to dive to his left to smother the ball on his second attempt.

Darrell would close out the scoring in the first half when he intercepted a quickly-taken free kick by Mills-Furbert before playing a give-and-go with Zari Simmons and then slotting the ball under the advancing keeper.

Colts dominated the opening minutes of the second half and should have scored when Cougars’s skipper Zeko White was dispossessed in his penalty area.

Brandon O’Connor’s goal-bound shot from an angle was blocked and then punched away to safety by the falling keeper as it rolled towards his goal.

However, Llimeiko Millett would close out the scoring when he rose high to head home from a corner to drive the final nail in the Colts’s coffin.

SCORERS

Devonshire Cougars 5

K Minors 6; D Coddington 8; E Darrell 14, 42; L Millett 70

Devonshire Colts 0

TEAMS

Devonshire Colts (3-5-2) – J Mills-Furbert 5 ‒ F Lema 4, C Minors 5, M Williams 5 ‒ B O’Connor 5 (sub: C Trott 86), J Paynter 4 (sub: S Swan 68, 4), Z Burgess 4 (sub: E Weldon 86), D Davis 4 (sub: L Symonds 46, 5), K Bailey 4 (sub: B Robinson 68, 4) ‒ R Smith-Jones 5, C Henry 5. Substitutes not used: J Eve. Booked: B O’Connor.

Devonshire Cougars (4-2-3-1) K Trott 6 ‒ D Williams 5 (sub: J Thomas 81), Zeko White 5, L Millett 6, T Tucker 5 ‒ Z Simmons 5, K Minors 6 (sub: Zekiro White 76) ‒ E Darrell 7, M Battersbee 5 (sub: R Wells 66, 5), Chekai Caisey 6 (sub: J Furbert-Wade 66, 5) ‒ D Coddington 6 (sub: J Fox 81). Substitutes not used: Chris Caisey, Q Maynard. Booked: R Wells.

Referee: D Parchment (Jamaica)