A spirited St. George?s side pulled off a significant upset and booked their place in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup last night thanks to a resounding victory over Premier Division?s Paget Lions in a replay.

On a miserably cold night when most sensible people would have been better off tucked away in the warmth of their beds, the boys from the East End defied their inferior First Division status to rout their hugely lacklustre opponents, whose chaotic second-half performance ? both in attack but more particularly in the defence ? would in all honesty have shamed a Commercial Division side.

The two teams drew 2-2 in the initial cup tie on Sunday.

St. George?s gangly young striker Allan Douglad jr gave the Wellington Oval outfit the lead on 20 minutes after volleying in a cross from the right while the Lions then hit back in the 36th minute through forward Yousef Pitt, who bundled the ball in from close range after an earlier shot hnd deflected off the goalkeeper and into his path in a crowded penalty area.

Whether they didn?t fancy the cold or were just out of sorts was unclear, but Paget for some reason started the second half as if they would rather have been somewhere else.

St. George?s, meanwhile, opted for the route one approach: defending in numbers and pumping long balls up the field for the likes of Douglas and Gregg Foggo to put pressure on Paget?s backtracking and under-pressure defenders.

Kenneth Foggo?s men took the lead again with just over 25 minutes of play remaining when Gregg Foggo?s left-footed free kick from 25 yards was somehow spilled by Paget ?keeper Wayne Smith, who was made to pay the ultimate price for his blunder as Keenan Burchall fired home the loose ball.

There then followed a bizarre incident where Paget appeared to try and substitute Pitt and bring on Rayki Emery for the latter stages ? though Pitt appeared to refuse to leave the field.

This lead to a momentary hold up and play and finished with the referee eventually waving play on ? prompting plenty of bemused faces on the Paget bench and among the crowd.

By then, however, it was clear Paget had largely lost interest in the game, and when a corner from St. George?s? Jade Foggo went straight in after getting caught up in the swirling wind, the writing was well and truly on the wall for the Lions.

In truth, the scoreline could have been even more embarrassing for them, as young Douglas in particular squandered a selection of glorious opportunities to add to his goal tally of one.

But considering their first-choice goalkeeper Greg Smith had had to come off injured within the first ten minutes of the match ? forcing defender Mischeal Paynter to don the gloves instead ? St. George?s did very well in the circumstances and can perhaps look forward to some more giant-slaying if they continue this kind of cup form.: G.Smith (P.Bailey 10), K.Hodsoll, M.Paynter, N.Paynter, J.Burrows, K.Burchall, K.Smith (T.Houston 50), J.Hayward, J.Foggo, G.Foggo, A.Douglas jrW.Smith, E.Hunt, K.Outerbridge, A.Bean, M.Belboda, A.Anderson, T.Wilkinson, Y.Pitt, N.Simons, D.Stovell (R.Emery 80), V.LopesA.Douglas jr (St. George?s), M.Belboda (Paget)M.Paynter (St. George?s): Colin Richardson