Dandy Town 1 Devonshire Cougars 3

Three-times FA Cup winners Devonshire Cougars advanced to the semi-finals of this year’s competition by brushing aside Dandy Town at Goose Gosling Field on Saturday night.

Domico Coddington and Lejuan Simmons were the sparks to ignite the Cougars victory with their forceful runs and counterattacking ability as they both scored a goal and provided an assist to send their team through.

The match started evenly with neither team able to dominate. Cougars’ Quadir Maynard and Coddington were noticeably interchanging the striker role to keep the Town defence off balance while at the other end the forceful Jahzardae Samuels was pressuring every Cougars’ defensive pass as both teams searched for an opening goal.

Simmons provided some anxious moments with threatening runs down the right flank but veteran wing back Damon Ming was equal to the task to match his speed and cut out that final pass.

Mikiel Thomas had the opportunity to open the scoring for Cougars when Coddington chipped over the defence to put him through with a clear run at goal but he would shoot wide with Town goalkeeper Azir Harvey at his mercy.

Cougars goalkeeper Keitaro Darrell presented Town captain Angelo Simmons with a gift when he fumbled a high cross but was relieved when the loose ball was slammed over the top from close range.

Cougars dominated the last ten minutes of the half and took a deserved lead into the break when Ming ventured forward to support his attack only for the play to breakdown with Cougars exploiting the vacant position. Simmons darted down the wing before cutting inside to get his shot off and Harvey did well to dive to his right to stop the shot but he could not do anything as Maynard followed up to blast the loose ball home.

Town came out with a vengeance after the restart with Samuels’s goalbound shot blocked for a corner before finding room to dribble but sliced his effort wide.

The persistence paid off as captain Simmons kept his composure when put through to sidefoot past the advancing Darrell to level the scores. Substitute Nizigh Spence thought he had given Town the lead but his firmly driven free-kick took a deflection and rolled past the upright by inches.

This served as a wake-up call to Cougars as Ereico Outerbridge was forced to save a Simmons drive off the goalline after connecting to a Thomas cross before Coddington put his team ahead when he dribbled through and kept his composure to hit a low drive past Harvey.

Cougars put the game to rest deep in added time when Coddington turned provider to beat the offside trap and drew Town goalkeeper Harvey before slipping a pass to Simmons for a simple tap into an empty net.

Cougars coach, Kwame Steede took the win in stride but reserved a word of praise for his in-form striker.

“I thought it was a great team performance. We did what we had to do and we are in this to win it just like any other team.

“I think Domico is putting pressure on the national squad. I don’t care how much age he has on him but he is performing well and scoring goals while doing it.”

SCORERS

Dandy Town: A Simmons 58

Devonshire Cougars: Maynard 45+1, Coddington 81, L Simmons 90+5

TEAMS

Dandy Town Hornets (4-2-3-1): A Harvey 6 — E Outerbridge 6, E Moore 5 (sub: N Spence, 46min 6), M Isaac 5, D Ming 7— A Furbert 6 (sub: K Sharrieff-Hayward, 86), A Daniels 6 (sub: J Richardson-Martin, 52 5) — T Goater 6, C Robinson 5, A Simmons 6 (sub: K Brangman 73) — J Samuels 7. Substitutes not used: T Webb, J Bean-Lindo, G Liburd.

Devonshire Cougars (4-2-3-1): K Darrell 6 — J Thomas 6, L Millett 6, Z White 6, J Fox 6 — S Burrows 5 (sub: D Daniels, 84), D Simmons 6 —- D Coddington 8, M Thomas 6, L Simmons 8 — Q Maynard 7 (sub: E Darrell, 73). Substitutes not used: M Joell, J Wade, C Brangman, N Simmons. Booked: Burrows, Maynard.

Referee: K Williams (Trinidad)