Boulevard Blazers 0 Devonshire Cougars 0

Devonshire Cougars held on for a goalless draw against Boulevard Blazers who failed to capitalise on large spells of dominance at Goose Gosling Field on Sunday night.

The promoted side pushed hard in the opening exchanges, showing much better composure in possession with wingers Kamali Davis and Akim Johnston moving the Cougars defence around nicely with their movement and communication. .

Blazers created their best opportunity of the first period when Takeyhi Walker picked out Ian Coke on the edge of the area but the forward could not shift his feet quick enough and his effort was blocked.

Although Boulevard dominated the majority of the first half, Cougars looked dangerous on the counter attack. Their best moment came when Demetre Daniels spotted Domico Coddington in a forward position, but the former Bermuda international struck his effort high and wide.

Blazers defended really well amid those dangerous moments of Cougars, marshalling tricky wingers Chekai Caisey and Elisha Darrell.

Cougars came out for the second half and started to knock the ball around confidently. They finally began to speed up the tempo of their passing, as well as working better as a team in attack and they should have opened the scoring midway through the second half, when Coddington nearly turned provider for Simmons, but his strike was well saved by Azir Harvey.

The Cougars skipper also had one more good strike of his own, but fired it wide of the near post.

Blazers ended the game with greater momentum, creating the last two clear-cut opportunities. A good ball from Davis was just too wide for Clay Darrell to take into his stride, while Coke was found by substitute Daeshun Hendrickson, but his effort was comfortably stopped by Cougars goalkeeper Ricardo Brangman.

Cougars head coach Kwame Steede wass pleased with the result.

“We don’t have the right balance in the team,” Steede said. “To get a draw from that, given our situation, is good”

"We created a lot of chances but when we needed the finish, they did not deliver.”

Blazers captain Coke was particularly pleased with their character to get this result. “We showed some grit,” he said. “We were evenly matched.

“We just need to be more clinical, or make the right decision in attack. The coaching staff are working hard on making relevant adjustments.”

Coke recognizes team cohesion will play a big part in Blazers’ future.

“We are working under a new coach [Jomar Wilkinson],” he said. “We just need to gel into the system, and stay together.”

TEAMS

Boulevard (4-2-3-1): A Harvey 6 – J Samuels 5, A Williams-Smith 5, J Williams 5, A Johnston 5 – T Walker 5, S Woolridge 5 (sub: D Hendrickson, 79min)– K Davis 5, I Coke 6, Q Maynard 5 – C Darrell 5 (sub: K McQueen, 83). Substitutes not used: T Taylor, A Smith, J Shakir, N Augustus, Z Stovell. Booked: Samuels

Devonshire Cougars (4-3-3): R Brangman 6 – D Williams 4 (sub: L Simmons, 20 6), Z White 5, J Thomas 5, J Wade 5 (sub: C Albouy, 66 5) – D Daniels 6, J Brimmer 5 (sub: K Minors, 56 5), Z Simmons 5 – C Caisey 5, D Coddington 5, E Darrell 5. Substitutes not used: N Simmons; Booked: Caisey, Coddington.

Referee: T Simons