Devonshire Cougars staged a second-half fightback to end St George’s unbeaten run on Sunday night.

St George’s, who came into the encounter top of the table on the back of four straight victories, led at the break courtesy of Blaiz Hall’s early strike. However, the visitor’s flawless form was halted as the hosts battled back with goals from Elisha Darrell, his ninth of the season, and Che’Kai Caisey to snatch the victory.

Despite being far from impressed with his side’s first-half performance, head coach Kwame Steede hailed the character of his players to complete the turnaround and get their league season back on track after a 1-0 defeat to Dandy Town in their previous game.

“I have to take my hat off to the players because that is a massive win for us,” Steede said. “I thought that in the first half we just didn’t settle at all and we had to pick up the tempo a lot more in the second half.

“Ultimately we showed our character. We were down against Dandy Town last time out and couldn’t come back, but tonight we showed that bit more character to come back and get the win.

“It was crucial to get back on track in the league. The defeat to Dandy Town felt like a blip but we’ve bounced back and we’ll keep pushing on.”

After a tentative opening ten minutes, Hall finally sparked the match into life with an opportunistic opener. Seizing on a loose ball 25 yards from goal, the winger clipped a first-time curling effort over the head of goalkeeper Keitaro Darrell, who found himself stranded off his goalline.

Cougars responded strongly to the setback and should have found themselves level before the interval, with two golden opportunities spurned.

The first came when Che’Kai Caisey fired his first-time effort straight at goalkeeper Jahquil Hill when well placed in the area in the 25th minute before Domico Coddington spurned an even clearer chance, heading over the bar despite being afforded an abundance of time and space in the centre of the goal.

St George’s started the second half on top and went close to doubling their advantage with Hall firing a left-foot shot narrowly wide of the right post before Jonte Smith stung the palms of Keitaro Darrell from the edge of the area.

But just as St George’s looked the most likely to score again, Cougars equalised against the run of play in the 67th minute. A flowing move down the right freed Jazario Brimmer, whose cross deflected over Hill and perfectly into the path of Elisha Darrell, who bundled the ball over the line from a yard out.

Building on that, Cougars almost went ahead just three minutes later but substitute Jayori Fox and Coddington were both denied brilliantly by Hill, but there was nothing he could do as the hosts finally completed the turnaround two minutes later. Picking up possession, Zari Simmons split the St George’s defence with a through ball to Che’Kai Caisey, who lifted his first-time effort over the body of the onrushing Hill and into the empty net.

St George’s almost found a late equaliser but Smith was well denied by Keitaro Darrell who got down well to keep out the striker’s driven shot from the left side of the area, preserving his side’s lead and sealing all three points.

SCORERS

Devonshire Cougars: E Darrell 67, Che’Kai Caisey 72

St George's: B Hall 13

TEAMS

Devonshire Cougars (4-1-4-1): K Darrell 7 – L Simmons 7, Z White 6, Chris Caisey 7, J Thomas 6 – K Minors 6 (sub: J Wade, 68 min, 6) – Z Simmons 7, Che’Kai Caisey 8, E Darrell 7 (Sub: J Fox, 68 6), J Brimmer 6 – D Coddington 6. Substitutes not used: C Albouy, Z Simmons, N Simmons, K Furber-Wade. Booked: Brimmer, Minors, Wade.

St George’s (4-2-3-1): J Hill 7 – T Burgess 6, D Signor 7, D Lodge 6 (sub: S Blair-Paynter, 88), J Darrell 7 (sub: P Anderson, 73) – C Neal 7 (sub: L Dill, 87), K Hall 7 – M Trott 7, B Hall 8, K Wilson 6 – J Smith 7. Substitutes not used: J Brangman. Booked: B Hall, Neal, Trott.

Referee: D Jackson