Devonshire Cougars 1 Hamilton Parish 1

Devonshire Cougars coach Kwame Steede lambasted his side’s profligacy in front of goal as his team lost valuable ground to PHC in the Premier Division title race on Sunday.

Cougars needed a Domico Coddington penalty with virtually the last kick of the game to rescue a point against Hamilton Parish, who had taken an early lead courtesy of Kion Knights.

The equaliser came shortly after Cougars had been reduced to ten men when Chris Caisey was shown a second yellow card in the 89th minute, but despite salvaging a share of the spoils, Steede was left to rue missed opporunities with the result leaving Cougars three points adrift of PHC with a far inferior goal difference.

“I’m really disappointed,” Steede said. “We created far too many chances to only come away with a draw.

“We had chance after chance and just wasted them, that’s what cost us tonight and it’s discouraging to watch.

“The only small saving grace is we didn’t lose the game and are in touching distance of PHC, but it’s thoroughly disappointing.”

The opening goal came as a result of Cougars goalkeeper Tahj Bell failing to hold on to Matteo Turner’s driven free kick, with Knights reacting quickest to prod the rebound in from close range.

The home side had the ball in the net in the 12th minute after captain Zeko White tapped in Lejuan Simmons’s driven cross, only for the celebrations to be cut short by the assistant referee’s flag, with the ball adjudged to have been out of play.

At the other end, Cougars had a let-off when Bell parried Knights’ stinging shot directly into the path of Macquille Walker, who failed to get the ball under control on the stretch with the goal at his mercy.

Cougars should have been level just five minutes after the restart but Demetre Daniels somehow diverted the ball over the bar from two yards out after getting on the end of Che’Kai Caisey’s driven cross.

In the 67th minute, substitute Elisha Darrell was guilty of an even more glaring miss just a minute after coming on for the injured Che’Kai Caisey, firing over an open goal after being teed up inside the area by Coddington.

Walker then went close to doubling Parish’s advantage on two separate occasions. The first featured his low shot across goal well held by Bell in the 75th minute, before he beat the onrushing goalkeeper to a through ball five minutes later only to see his effort from an acute angle roll just wide of the left post.

With just a minute of normal time remaining, Cougars’ task was made even harder as Chris Caisey was sent off for a second bookable offence by American referee Kyle Johnston.

However, with the match coming to a close, Johnson handed Cougars a lifeline, awarding a penalty after Darrell’s marauding run was halted by a foul inside the area.

Coddington took responsibility and made no mistake, firing his spot kick into the left corner to rescue a point and just about preserve Cougars’ title challenge.

SCORERS

Devonshire Cougars: Coddington 90+1 (pen)

Hamilton Parish: Knights 5

TEAMS

Devonshire Cougars (4-3-3): T Bell - Che’Kai Caisey (sub: E Darrell 66 min 6), Z White, Z Simmons 6 (sub: L Millett 21 7), J Thomas - Chris Caisey, D Daniels, J Brimmer - J Fox, L Simmons, D Coddington. Substitutes not used: K Steede, N Simmons, J Wade. Booked: Daniels, Chris Caisey, Chris Caisey Sent off: Chris Caisey

Hamiton Parish (4-5-1): N Burgess - Q Outerbridge, M Hill, Z Burgess, M Turner - S McKittrick, A Nelson, K Wade (sub: C Lindo 75), C Castle, K Knights - M Walker (sub: J Steede 90). Substitutes not used: P Tohill, E Furbert.