Devonshire Cougars have a great opportunity to keep up with Premier Division leaders North Village when they clash with Young Men’s Social Club in a rescheduled fixture at Devonshire Rec tonight at 8pm.

Kwame Steede’s side is four points off Village, and a win over Social Club could see them reduce that gap going into Christmas. Should they win against Social Club, another three points on offer against Dandy Town in another rescheduled match on December 30 could see them end the year on top should Village slip up in their clutch match away to PHC tomorrow night.

Cougars have only lost one match in the league this season, inflicted on them by Village, who triumphed 2-1 at the Den in October.

Steede has had little time to motivate his players after yet another defeat by the Rams, this time a 3-1 loss in the quarter-finals of the Friendship Trophy at Goose Gosling Field on Monday.

It will be a typical case of wounded sides, since Social Club were also on the losing end, beaten 3-2 in extra time by Somerset Trojans in the Friendship Trophy quarter-finals.

Victory for either side will be a huge morale-booster, with league action on a break until the new year.

While Cougars are fully motivated to close ground on Village at the top of the table, promoted Social Club should sense this as a chance to ease away from the bottom half. A big shock gives Michael Smith’s troops a chance to rise to fifth above Dandy Town and Paget.

The trends are not in the Bluebirds’ favour, though, with Cougars having won the past four meetings while bagging 20 goals.

Elisha Darrell remains Cougars’ chief scoring threat after the potentially season-ending injury suffered by Chae Brangman. Darrell is ably complemented up front by Zari Simmons and Domico Coddington.

For Social Club, if they could put up the same fighting spirit they displayed against Trojans, they could walk away victorious. David Jones Jr, Malique Wilson, Renaldo Clacken and Mical Hardtman put up a courageous fight in the Friendship Trophy defeat.