Two moments of artistic brilliance from Rodney Bascome that led to goals in the second half took the heat off Boulevard in this First Division clash at Lord's yesterday.

With the score tied at 1-1 and St. David's offering a serious challenge, Bascome rescued Boulevard with some of his old Somerset Trojans' flare.

After 73 minutes he masterfully got around a St. David's defender and provided the pass for Vernon Eve to thump the ball home from an acute angle on the left.

And then three minutes later Bascome's magic again stunned St. David's. This time he gracefully dribbled by two defenders down the left flank, coolly escaped a desperation dive by goalkeeper Kuhn Evans and centred for substitute Vernon Phillips to fire home from 14 yards.

With a comfortable 3-1 lead Boulevard might have been expected to coast to an even more emphatic victory. But with relegation staring them in the face, St.

David's stormed back with player-coach Andrew Bascome leading the way.

Playing more of an attacking role in the later stages, the midfielder teamed up with striker and skipper Keith Jennings to pin down the Boulevard defence with some telling raids.

The inevitable second goal came when the two combined. Bascome chipped a ball into the middle that Jennings chased and controlled before striking home from close range to make it 3-2.

Before all of these goals came, though, St. David's matched their opponents and seemed capable of taking a share of the points.

They held a slight edge over Boulevard in the first half although it was the latter who led 1-0 at the interval.

Boulevard got the goal after 40 minutes when right full back Amon Brown thundered a shot into the net from outside the box.

St. David's had an escape earlier when a wonderfully chipped ball from Dwight Warren after just six minutes struck the bar much to the dismay of the player who was forced to cease premature celebrations.

But St. David's stormed back and dominated play for a long spell without being able to crack a solid defence marshalled well by centre-back Leroy Stevens.

Boulevard finished off the half strongly with skipper Neil Robinson putting an angled shot at goalkeeper Evans and forcing four corners before Brown put them ahead 1-0.

After 55 minutes substitute Otis Minors, who had been on the field for less than a minute, provided the cross for Jennings to score the equaliser from close range.

The ambitious Minors followed this by putting an effort wide of the post from 16 yards. Then Boulevard goalkeeper Mitchell Steede had to dive to save a 20-yard blast from midfielder Tafari Outerbridge.

But before St. David's could do any more harm they were deflated by Bascome's dribbling heroics that saved the day for Boulevard.

Boulevard: M.Steede; A.Brown, L.Stevens, D.Charles, A.Caisey; L.Hypolite, N.Robinson, V.Eve; R.Bascome, A.Williams (V.Phillips, 56 mins), D.Warren St. David's: K.Evans; J.Thomas, S.Pitcher, J.Warren, G.Foggo (A.Tyrell, 85 mins); P.White, T.Outerbridge, A.Bascome; C.Simmons (T.Weeks, 63 mins), K.Jennings, S.Goater (O.Minors, 54 mins) Referee: A.Pearmain Men of the match: Rodney Bascome (Boulevard); Shea Pitcher (St. David's)