Devonshire Cougars 2 Flanagan’s Onions 0

Devonshire Cougars, fresh from their midweek Dudley Eve Trophy semi-final penalty shootout win over North Village, warmed up for the finals by beating Flanagan’s Onions at Devonshire Rec yesterday.

First-half goals from Mark Steede and Shakii Pearman were sufficient to secure all three points for the Cougars, which keeps them in eyesight of league leaders, PHC Zebras.

Mick Ward, the Flanagan’s Onions Coach, took the loss in stride but was disappointed in the Cougars second goal as he felt it came as a result of a handball.

“I am not blaming the officials except for the second goal,” Ward said. “Both officials didn’t see it but at the end of the day, we should have been goals up before them but we didn’t score.”

Onions had the better of the early exchanges in the first half with two golden opportunities. Cougars defender Tirrel Woodley was forced to clear of the goal line from a flick-on from an Onions corner then striker Keston Lewis intercepted a pass deep in the Cougars defence and played the ball through to Treshun Smith, but his shot sliced off his boot and went wide of Cougars goalkeeper Kioshi Trott’s upright.

Jawonday Smith, Cougars’ workaholic midfielder, went on one of his dribbling sprees and was pulled down at the top of the penalty area. The free-kick was hit hard and low, but sailed passed Onions goalkeeper Chejon Berkeley’s upright.

Cougars would score midway through the first half against the run of play. A long throw-in by Zion Simmons would find burly striker Steede, who controlled well, shielded the ball, turned and dribbled a few steps before drilling a low shot that squeezed between Berkeley and his near post.

Steede almost had a second when he was put through, but took too long to pull the trigger, allowing Onions defender Peter Robey to make a desperation tackle.

The second goal would come two minutes before the break, from somewhat controversial circumstances. Cougars forward Pearman chased down a back-pass inteneded for Berkeley, who took too long to clear, allowing Pearman to jump and block his attempted clearance with his body. Pearman was first to the rebound and slammed the ball into the empty net despite a gallant effort from Berkeley to retrieve it. Onions players appealed for handball on the block by Pearman but after a discussion with his linesman, referee Lyndon Raynor awarded the goal.

Onions continued to press for a goal in the second half. Keston Lewis could not beat the offside trap on two occasions when put through. They almost scored a consolation goal in the last minute of the game when a long clearance found Treshun Smith, but his low cross into the six-yard box was cleared for a corner.

“Not a good performance today,” Omar Butterfield, the Cougars coach, said. “Players not doing what they were supposed to do. However, we kept a clean sheet and got three points. We need to keep this momentum going into Sunday’s final against PHC.”

SCORERS

Devonshire Cougars

Steede 23, Pearman 43

TEAMS

Devonshire Cougars: K Trott — T Woodley, Z White, Z White (sub: J Butterfield, 70min), Z Simmons (sub: S Jones, 55), N Carmichael, J Smith (sub: M Steede, 64), M Battersbee, C Brangman, M Steede, S Pearman. Substitutes not used: L Brangman, D Simmons, D Williams, L Thomas.

Flanagan’s Onions: C Berkeley — P Robey, C Burns, M Field, M Laws, N Dunkle, M Aden, M Lindsey-Bailey, J Higson (sub: P Smith, 79), T Smith, K Lewis (sub: N Anglin, 79).

Referee: L Raynor