St George’s 1 Devonshire Cougars 3

Jayori Fox was delighted to play a key role in helping Devonshire Cougars seal a fourth league win on the spin with victory at Wellington Oval yesterday.

With the scoreline at 2-1 after goals from Lejuan Simmons and Domico Coddington sandwiched a Jonté Smith equaliser from the spot, the match looked set for a frantic finale with St George’s pushing for a point.

That was until Fox dashed any lingering hopes of a fightback in spectacular fashion with three minutes remaining, lashing home from 30 yards with a contender for goal of the season to put the result beyond doubt and maintain his side’s impressive run of form.

“That was definitely the best goal I’ve ever scored,” said Fox, who backed Cougars to maintain their winning form and keep the pressure on leaders North Village.

“I saw how much space I had and I just decided to hit it. I didn’t even watch to see if it went in, I turned and celebrated because I knew it was going in.

“I’m really happy to have played my part today and scored that goal to kill any momentum they had late on and seal the victory.

“I know we’re all confident of keeping this momentum going. The team is playing really well and you can see that we’re building momentum. I definitely feel that we can keep going and reel North Village in.”

Cougars dominated the opening stages with Coddington testing Jahquil Hill from a curling free kick in the early minutes and volleying narrowly wide.

The the away side continued to create chances with Simmons flashing an effort across the goalmouth from the right and narrowly wide of the far post.

There was an injury scare for St George’s in the 25th minute after a collision between Hill and Cougars forward Jazario Brimmer resulted in a bloodied nose and lacerated top lip for the goalkeeper. However, after a long stoppage he was cleared to continue.

Simmons again went close when firing over with a lobbed effort in the 35th minute, while at the other end St George’s finally had a sight of goal with Smith unleashing a thunderous 25-yard strike, which goalkeeper Jerez Eve brilliantly tipped over.

Deep into added time, Cougars should have broken the deadlock when Simmons skipped down the right before picking out Coddington, who could not sort his feet out quickly enough, firing wide while stumbling backwards.

However, Cougars were finally rewarded in the closing stages as Coddington turned provider, releasing Simmons who beat the final defender before slotting the ball into the bottom left corner.

St George’s started the second half with renewed vigour and were gifted a golden opportunity to level in the 65th minute. In a moment of madness, Cougars goalkeeper Eve had a rush of blood, racing off his line in attempt to reach a deep free kick into the area only to clatter through the back of Smith.

The striker took responsibility himself and made no mistake from the spot, firing into the bottom right corner with Eve rooted to his line.

St George’s were only level for a little more than ten minutes as a defensive lapse in concentration resulted in the ball being played into Coddington inside the area to lash a vicious right-foot effort past a helpless Hill.

St George’s responded positively and continued to pour forward, putting balls into the area and winning a number of corners as it looked set to be a nervy end for Cougars

However, out of nowhere Fox settled any lingering nerves in sublime fashion with two minutes remaining.

Receiving the ball on the right-hand side 30 yards from goal, the right-back took a touch out of his feet into space before arrowing a speculative strike past the desperate reach of Hill and into the top right corner, sparking wild celebrations from Cougars players, staff and fans.

SCORERS

St George’s: Smith 65 pen

Devonshire Cougars: L Simmons 45+11, Coddington 76, Fox 88.

TEAMS

St George’s (4-3-3): J Hill 7 – M Payntor 7, P Anderson 6, T Burgess 7, D Zuill 6 (sub: E Signor, 46min 7) – K Hall 7, O Bascome 6 (sub: A Douglas, 74), D Bascome 6 (sub: K Minors, 57 6) – R King 7, J Smith 7, P Simons 6. Substitutes not used: C Ottley, A Cannonier. Booked: Zuill, O Bascome, Anderson, Minors, J Hayward (coach).

Devonshire Cougars (4-3-3): J Eve 6 – J Fox 7, Z White 7, M Joell 7, J Thomas 7 – S Burrows 7 (sub: Q Maynard, 78), D Daniels 7, Z Simons 7 – L Simmons 8 (sub: N Simmons, 82), D Coddington 8, J Brimmer 7 (sub: E Darrell, 67 7). Substitutes not used: C Brangman, S Jones, K Darrell. Booked: Brimmer, Eve.

Referee: T Simons.