U-23s squeak by Devonshire Cougars

Several development’s to note as Devarr Boyles is on the Devonshire Cougars bench as the teams Technical Director and player/coach Kwame Steede started the match on the bench.

The first chance of the game fell to the feet of Trinidad’s Jean-Luc Rochford but his shot from the edge of the box went well over the top in the third minute. In the 17th minute Sean Brangam played a one-two with Aljame Zuill and his twenty-five yard shot beat a diving Andre Marchan to his right. In the 26th minute Cougars goalkeeper Clyde Darrell made a save diving to his left to stop a Rochford shot but Jamal Juma Clarence was on hand to put the rebound away from just inside the six yard box.

In the 36th minute Trinidad took the lead, a corner from Rochford saw Nicholas Walker out jump the Cougars defense to head the ball home. Two minutes later a thunderous shot from Lougheed from some twenty yards out flew pass a diving Darrell to make the score 3–1. In the 42nd minute Cougars came close to making it a one goal game but Daneil Cyrus cleared the ball off the line.

Click Here to see the Full Devonshire Cougars - Trinidad and Tobago Under 23 Team Half Time Stats

One minute into the second half Trinidad’s Lougheed had a shot from inside the box go well wide. In the 56th minute Cougars striker Aljame Zuill headed on a long ball for Korvon Tucker to outpace the Trinidad defense and score from inside the box to make the score 3 – 2. In the 65th minute Kwame Steede had a chance to equalize for Cougars but his penalty kick was saved by Marchan and then hit the rebound well over the top. In the 82nd minute Trinidad’s Micah Lewis went on a run and had a shot from some 25 yards out that was well saved by Darrell.

Click Here to see the Full Devonshire Cougars - Trinidad and Tobago Under 23 Team Full Time Stats

SCORING SUMMARY

Devonshire Cougars:
Sean BRANGAM 17'
Aljame ZUILL 56'

Trinidad & Tobago:
Jamal CLARENCE 26'
Nicholas WALKER 36'
Trent LOUGHEED 38'

TEAMS

Devonshire Cougars:
1. Clyde DARRELL, 12. Joshua BUTTERFIELD (Lovintz TOTA 80'), 3. Jesse SEYMOUR, 6. Kijuan FRANKS, 14. Sean BRANGMAN (Domico CODDINGTON 34'), 8. Moses STEEDE (Kwame STEEDE 50'), 10. Tumani STEEDE (Lejuan SIMMONS 62'), 16. Aljame ZUILL (Mark STEEDE 67'), 7. Kori GODDARD (Shaki PEARMAN 74'), 11. Korvon TUCKER (Tyrel WOODLEY 80'), 5. Ijahmon MALLORY

Substitutes:
13. Locintz TOTA, 21. Domico CODDINGTON, 20. Mark STEEDE, 23. Tyrel WOODLEY, 19. Shaki PEARMAN, 22. Lejuan SIMMONS, 17. Kwame STEEDE

Coach: Kwame STEEDE

Trinidad and Tobago:
21. Andre MARCHAN, 3. Curtis GONZALES, 5. Akeem ADAMS (Jovin JONES 44'), 6. Leston PAUL (capt.) (Mikeil WILLIAMS 89'), 11. Trent LOUGHEED (Marcus JOSEPH 75'), 13. Jamal CLARENCE (Jerrel BRITTO 62'), 14. Jean-Luc ROCHFORD (Stephen CAMPBELL 72'), 15. Nicholas WALKER, 7. Micah LEWIS, 4. Sheldon BATEAU (Jevon MORRIS 46'), 19. Daniel CYRUS

Substitutes:
12. Jovin JONES, 10. Jerrel BRITTO, 17. Mikeil WILLIAMS, 18. Jevon MORRIS, 9. Stephen CAMPBELL, 16. Marcus JOSEPH

Coach: Zoran VRANES

YELLOW CARDS

Devonshire Cougars:
16. Aljame ZUILL 32'
 3. Jesse SEYMOUR 78'

Trinidad & Tobago:
 3. Curtis GONZALES 65'
 9. Stephen CAMPBELL 80'
19. Daniel CYRUS 89'

Bateau injured in T&T 3-2 win.
By Shaun Fuentes (TTFF).

Trinidad and Tobago’s National Under 23 footballers braved the biting cold conditions and a stiffer challenge from Devonshire Cougar’s senior team to come away 3-2 winners in the second match of their Bermuda tour on Wednesday night.

Following Monday’s 5-2 win over Bermuda’s Olympic team, the Zoran Vranes-coached unit were a confident bunch at the National Sports Center in Devonshire and seized the early advantage to hold a 3-1 lead at half time but the eventual win didn’t come as easy this time and not without an  unfortunate occurrence.

T&T lost defender Sheldon Bateau who suffered a blow to the face from the elbow of a Devonshire player moments before half time and had to be taken to hospital for treatment. The T&T team was still awaiting scan results on his injury up to late last night.

Striker Juma Clarence netted his second goal in as many matches to level the scores at 1-1 in the 26th minute with Nicholas Walker (36th) and Trent Lougheed (38th) were the other scorers for the visitors. The home side pulled a goal. Sean Brangam had put Cougars 1-0 ahead on 17 minutes and Aljame Zuill got their second item in the 56th.

Brangam put Cougars 1-0 up when he got a return pass from Zuill before shooting past Andre Marchan. Before that Jean Luc Rochford went close for T&T
and then went for goal again, forcing Clyde Darrell to save but Clarence was on spot to nail the rebound.

Rochford got his second assist for T&T when his corner led to Walker rising above the Cougars backline to head home for a 2-1 T&T lead.

Lougheed then sent T&T further ahead in style with a rocket from 20 yards out which flew into the net leaving Darrell with no chance of keeping out.

After Zuill, an ex-Bermudan international,pulled a second goal back for the home team, T&T had to sustain a bit of pressure but were never outplayed. Marchan did have to come up big though in the 66th minute to stop a penalty try by Kwame Steede who hit the resulting rebound over bar.

Micah Lewis had a late effort which forced Darrell to save in what was otherwise a decent showing by the T&T team.

Vranes was pleased with his side’s efforts.

“It’s good to win again yes but I thought we allowed them to believe they could get back in the game and they almost did that. We conceded first again and that is not good. It’s good in the sense that we came from behind to take the lead and win in the end but it’s unnecessary pressure from early in the game when the next team scores,” Vranes told TTFF Media.

“I am happy for the challenge because the next team is a bit older and stronger than the Bermuda team we played on Monday and it was very cold tonight even more than it was in the first game. We have another game to play before we head back home and I think the guys will be very eager to continue their winning run.”

T&T will play Bermuda’s Olympic team on Saturday at the same venue.

Brave Cougars so close to shock result.
By Josh Ball (The Royal Gazette).

Devonshire Cougars came within a missed penalty of grabbing a famous draw against Trinidad and Tobago at the National Sports Centre last night.

Head coach Kwame Steede saw his second half spot kick well saved by Trinidad goalkeeper Andre Marcham, and then blasted the rebound over the bar from six yards out with the keeper still lying on the floor.

Defeat was tough on last season's Premier Division champions who dominated their international opponents in the second half, putting in the kind of performance that bodes well for their forthcoming Concacaf Champions League campaign in March.

And it was especially tough on Steede, a second half substitute, who turned his side around following a first half in which they took a shock lead, only to then concede three goals in the space of 12 minutes.

For the visiting team, Daneil Cyrus produced his second outstanding performance in two games, and at times was the only thing standing between his team and a Cougars equaliser.

Time and again Cyrus stopped a Cougars attack in its tracks, and twice blocked shots that were going in. He cleared one of the line to deny Aljame Zuill just before half time, and threw his body in the way of a Steede effort moments after the returning head coach had missed his penalty.

In contrast the rest of the Soca Warriors were slightly less impressive, and aside from the 12 minutes in which they scored three times, rarely threatened Cougars.

The Premier Division side actually scored first, and the nature of the goal summed up a rather scrappy opening in which both teams struggled to find their rhythm.

Cougars midfielder Sean Brangman slipped as he attempted to play the ball forward, and ended up sending a curling 30-yard effort past Marcham.

The Trinidad goalkeeper may well have been expected to get to the less than powerful shot, but the swirling wind that blew across the ground last night caught the ball and took it away from him.

It wasn't the last time the elements would play a part in a goal.

By that time Cougars should already have been a man down. Zuill caught Cyrus twice with nasty two-footed lunges that merited at least a yellow card, and he was eventually booked following his third challenge which might have earned him an early bath in its own right.

Trinidad were behind for a mere nine minutes, and their equaliser was a poor one for Cougars to concede.

Having failed to clear a hopeful ball into the box, the Cougars defenders then struggled to close down Jean Luc Rochford, and though goalkeeper Clyde Darrell pulled off a fine one-handed save, he could do nothing to stop Jamal Clarance poking home the rebound.

Trinidad's second was equally as poor, with defender Nicholas Walker outjumping Kijuan Franks to head home from a corner. And when Trent Lougheed smashed the ball past Darrell from the edge of the area for his side's third, it looked like being a long night for the Bermuda team.

Rochford nearly added a fourth moments after the break, and then Steede was introduced into the action, and the game changed.

The coach's arrival gave his side a better shape, and added a link between defence and attack that had been lacking in the first half.

Even so, Cougar's second was down in no small part to the wind which carried a hopeful long ball out of their defence, over the head of Walker, and straight into the path of Korvon Tucker who finished in style.

The goal fired Cougars up, and had the opposite effect on the visitors, who struggled to get any real control thereafter.

Jovien Jones went from hero to villain in the space of 30 seconds for Trinidad moments later. Throwing his body in the way of a goal-bound shot, he then handled the ball from the resulting corner and conceded a penalty.

Steede stepped up, hit it right, saw it saved, and then fired over the rebound.

The game then lost most of its shape and rhythm after that as both sides made regular substitutions.

Trinidad might have added a fourth, but were denied twice by Darrell, including a flying save from a well struck Cyrus free kick.

Cougars pilled forward as the game drew to a close, and even threw Franks into attack, but all to no avail.

The ball just wouldn't fall for the Premier Division side, who ran themselves to a standstill in a brave attempt to find an equaliser.

Devonshire Cougars: C Darrell, J Butterfield (L Tota, 80), K Franks, I Mallory, J Seymour, K-V Tucker (T Woodley, 80), Moses Steede (K Steede, 50), T Steede (L Simmons, 61), K Goddard (S Pearman, 73), A Zuill (Mark Steede, 66), S Brangman (D Coddington, 34). Booked Seymour, Zuill.

Trinidad & Tobago: A Marcham, A Adams (J Jones, 44), C Gonzales, S Bateau (J Morris, 46), N Walker, P Leston (M Williams, 90), JL Rochford (S Campbell, 72), T Lougheed (M Jospeh, 75), D Cyrus, M Lewis, J Clarance (J Britto, 62). Booked Cyrus, Gonzales, Campbell.

Referee: G. O'Brien

Man of the match: Daneil Cyrus

Mallory: T&T can't handle the rough stuff.
By Stephen Wright (The Royal Gazette).

Defender Ijahmon Mallory believes Devonshire Cougars out-muscled Trinidad Under-23s who struggled to cope with their opponents' physical brand of play.

A determined looking Cougars routinely roughed up the Soca Warriors last night and Mallory reckons his team were unfortunate not to come away with at least a draw.

"They are very technical and switched the play well but they don't like to be touched around," he said. "They are not very physical. Whenever we put a little body on them they did not appreciate it very much.

"By putting some body on them we were able to really boss them around. The game was never out of our reach. We created chances throughout the game."

Assistant coach Gary Mallory echoed his son's sentiments and said he was very proud of Cougars' battling display.

"It was a good experience for us and I was pleased with the fight we showed. I was very proud of Cougars tonight."

Former Cougars coach Devarr Boyles sat on the team's bench last night and Mallory revealed the Bermuda Football Association youth director would be helping out with their Concacaf Champions League preparations.

"Devarr has been part of our preparations. We are looking at the big picture and part of that picture is having Devarr help our technical staff as we look to play in the Concacaf Champions League," he said. "Put it this way, if we need him he will help us as long as it doesn't affect his job with the BFA."

Despite Cougars largely dominating the second period, Trinidad coach Zoran Vranes said he was more than satisfied with his team's performance.

"I think everybody enjoyed our play and I thought we controlled the game," said Vranes. "We gave away a very soft first goal and it was a big mistake by our 'keeper.

"The team we played were not bad so it was a good test for us, but I thought we were much better tonight. They had one shot in the first half and they scored from it."

Trent Lougheed, the Trinidad striker, praised Cougars for their fighting spirit: "They had nice aggression and were quick, but we were we focused tonight and played within ourselves," he said.

Trinidad will be looking for a clean sweep when they take on Bermuda Under-23s in their final tour match tomorrow at the National Sports Centre. Kick off is at 3 p.m.