Southampton Rangers 1 St George’s Colts 8

St George’s Colts started the new year with a bang after thrashing struggling Southampton Rangers at Southampton Oval yesterday.

The visitors dominated this lopsided Premier Division contest throughout and with better finishing could have easily won by an even wider margin.

Jahron Dickinson and Tyrell Burgess led the charge with two goals apiece, while Nzari Paynter, Jai Burgess and substitutes Jahkai Brangman and Christian King also got in on the scoring act as the east enders simply had things all their way.

Travis Wilkinson scored a late consolation for the hosts, whose woes were compounded by injuries to player/coach Dwayne Adams and midfielder Marco Basden.

The match was St George’s first since losing 3-2 away to PHC on December 28 as their subsequent fixtures against Devonshire Colts and Somerset Trojans were both postponed due to an outbreak of Covid-19 among the other two sides.

Jarreau Hayward, the St George’s coach, was delighted with his team’s dominant display in their first outing of the year.

“I think it was just important for us to get back to basics and right the wrongs we did against PHC and come out with three points to get our season back on track,” he told The Royal Gazette.

“The two postponements and then waiting so long to correct our last loss, I think everyone was just eager and anxious to get out there and prove that we are a force in this league.”

Wingback Nzari Paynter and substitute King both opened their scoring accounts in the top flight, the latter on his debut in senior football at age 17.

“Christian has been with us his whole life and the fans were excited,” Hayward said.

“Once we were up so much it was definitely time to have a little celebration, and he’s earned his minutes so it wasn’t like we gave it to him. He earned it and he earns it every day in training so he deserved it and I’m proud of him.”

Hayward admitted conceding a late goal, which their hosts probably didn’t deserve, put a slight damper on his team’s emphatic victory.

“A little disappointed to concede a goal,” he added. “I thought we deserved a clean sheet, something that we’ve been working on really hard in training is improving our defence.

“But we were really pleased with the goal output, so I really can’t complain too much.”

St George’s seized early control and should have opened their account when forward Macai Simmons broke through only to shoot tamely into the arms of Rangers goalkeeper Adams.

Simmons squandered another glorious opportunity after firing Dickinson’s squared pass inside the six-yard box over the bar with only Adams to beat.

It was virtually one way traffic at this stage as St George’s piled on the pressure, which finally told when Nzari Paynter, son of St George’s president and former player Neil Paynter, broke the deadlock after slamming home Dickinson’s cross at the back post to open his account in top flight football.

Rangers suffered another setback moments later when Adams pulled his groin. McQuinn Burch replaced Adams while defender Dakarrie Steede took over goalkeeping duties.

Central defender Tyrell Burgess doubled St George’s lead from the penalty spot after Rangers handled in their area.

Simmons had a shot from inside the 18-yard box roll inches wide of the post before forward Jai Burgess lobbed Steede to make it 3-0 and virtually end the match as a contest.

Rangers’s Ricardo Lowe had a speculative volley from an angle bounce off the top of the bar before Dickinson dispossessed Burch and drilled in the visitors’s fourth to send them into the break in full command.

Simmons headed tamely into Steede’s hands while Tyrell Burgess blasted over Alleyne Francis’s rebound inside the six-yard box, as St George’s kept the pressure on when play resumed.

Simmons made amends when he played Dickinson in behind for him to slot past the advancing Steede.

St George’s substitute Brangman went close when his shot from inside the box struck the woodwork.

He then combined with fellow substitute King, who beat Steede with a low drive in the far bottom corner.

Brangman wasted a golden opportunity after firing fellow substitute Sage Blair-Paynter’s short pass over from inside the six -yard box, before Tyrell Burgess scored the best goal of the game with a brilliant effort from 25 yards that curled inside of the far post.

Brangman finally got in on the scoring act when he dispossessed Rangers defender Kamen Tucker and beat Steede from close range to make it 8-0.

Wilkinson gave the home crowd something to cheer about when he scored after being afforded just enough time and space to fire off a shot past the advancing Freddy Hall and deny the visitors the shut-out victory their dominant display warranted.

SCORERS

Southampton Rangers: Wilkinson 83

St George’s Colts: Dickinson 44, 62; T Burgess 35, 78; N Paynter 20; J Burgess 40; King (sub) 70; Brangman (sub) 81.

TEAMS

Southampton Rangers (4-4-2): D Adams 5 (sub: M Burch, 25min 5) – A Traina Zan 5, D Hill 5, K Tucker 5, D Steede 5 – R Lowe 5, M Basden 5 (sub: T Smith, 67 5), R Simmons 5 (sub: A Bean, 54 5), T Wilkinson 7 – J Bean 5, C Henry 5. Substitutes not used: W Bean, L Scott, J Caisey.

St George'sColts (4-1-4-1): F Hall 8 – N Paynter 8, T Burgess 8, P Anderson 7, A Francis 8 – D Signor 7 – J Carlington 7 (sub: J Brangman, 61 mins 7), J Burgess 7, K Ottley 7 (sub: C King, 67 7), J Dickinson 8 (sub: J Darrell, 74 mins) – M Simmons 7 (sub: S Blair-Paynter, 74). Substitutes not used: T McCallan,

Referee: A Francis