Vasco 0 St George’s 4

First Division pacesetters St George’s Colts carried their league form into cup competition by brushing aside second-tier rivals Vasco da Gama yesterday at Bernard Park.

Following up a recent 5-0 thumping with four this time, the East Enders’ goals were well spread with four different scorers against a sloppy Vasco defensive outfit.

Vasco actually had the first chance of the game as they caught their opponents napping in the opening minute. Forward Ricardo Ponte played Eduardo Santos-Correia in down the left side to spring a counter-attack but failed to connect with the return pass from four yards out.

The close call seemed to wake up St George’s and they responded immediately with their next attack. Jahron Dickinson’s ball over the top created confusion between defender and goalkeeper at the edge of the box, and Kenton Ottley was on hand to clean up the mess and finish into the empty net from a slight angle.

Vasco then had a couple of decent attempts as Ponte forced Freddy Hall to dive low to save his shot from distance. The forward was unlucky moments later when he created space for himself inside the box, but could not keep his volley under the bar as the home side gained momentum.

However, midway through the half, St George’s virtually booked their place in the quarter-finals with in the space of five minutes.

First, Diego McCallan capitalised on a defensive miskick, running on to the ball and drilling a low shot past the stranded keeper from just inside the box.

Then Damon Darrell was first to pounce on a sliced clearance, beating the goalkeeper to the ball, rounding him with his first touch and finishing into the empty net to put his team on cruise control.

St George’s were then forced into a substitution just before the half when Ernest Signor received a knock and was replaced by Keijon Butterfield.

Vasco made a few tactical changes and were a little more organised in the second half, but they never really looked like they would get themselves back in it.

A place in the next round of the FA Cup was sealed in the 70th minute when Dickinson calmly slotted the ball into the bottom far corner after being picked out by a reverse pass from Jelani Carlington.

SCORERS

St George’s Colts: Ottley 2, McCallan 27, Darrell 33, Dickinson 75

TEAMS

Vasco (4-3-3): P Flora — M Duarte, D Almeida, A Camara, E Santos-Correia — R Medeiros (sub: A Van-Duyne, 78min), K Cabral, R Smith — J Costa (sub: E Viera, 60), R Ponte, J Watts (sub: G Signorile, 84). Substitutes not used: R Bell, J Dunstan, F Coelho. Booked: Medeiros, Camara,

St George’s (4-3-3): F Hall — A Francis, E Signor (sub: K Butterfield, 37), D Smith, G Wade — D Signor, J Carlington, J Dickinson (sub: M Simmons, 78) — K Ottley (sub: R Smith, 68), D McCallan, D Darrell. Substitutes not used: A Smith, W Broadley, T McCallan, K Smith. Booked: Signor.

Referee: D Jackson.