Southampton Rangers 0 St George’s 1

Jahron Dickinson’s late strike catapulted promoted St George’s to a stunning upset win over heavily fancied hosts Southampton Rangers in the Premier Division at Southampton Oval yesterday.

The lively and experienced forward headed home the winner from David Signor’s cross at the back post to earn the visiting side their first win since returning to the top flight.

“It was important to get something on the charts, our first points of the season,” an elated Jarreau Hayward, the St George’s coach, said. “I thought we could’ve got some last week [against Somerset] but we went back to the drawing board and were successful this week.

“Credit to Rangers, they are an awesome team. We had to be 100 per cent today, and we were.”

Hayward added: “Rangers lost [against league champions North Village] last week, so we knew they were going to come. This is their home game in front of their own fans, so we knew we had to weather the storm early — and that’s what we did.

“We made the necessary adjustments and credit to the players because they played extremely well and did everything we asked of them.”

As for Dickinson’s winner, Hayward said: “Jahron’s goal was massive.

“We know that if he is on it, we are on. So we challenged him to have an MVP game today, and he definitely did.”

Freddie Hall, the St George’s goalkeeper, also played an integral role in the victory, as he made a string of saves either side of the interval to keep his team in contention.

The loss was a particularly bitter pill for Rangers to swallow, having dominated possession and created more chances than their opponents.

Forwards Jarazhino Bassett and Dion Stovell squandered gilt-edged opportunities while Damon Ming was denied by the crossbar.

“We created too many chances to lose this game today and I’m very disappointed with the end result,” Jomar Wilkinson, the Rangers coach, said. “We have to take our chances; that’s the main thing.”

Rangers went straight for the jugular from the opening kick-off in search of an early breakthrough and mounted waves of attacks to keep St George’s on the back foot.

They created openings but were denied by some wasteful finishing when scoring seemed easier.

Bassett broke through down the left side but volleyed over with only Shaquille Bean, the Rangers goalkeeper, to beat.

Stovell also showed the St George’s defence a clean pair of heels before blasting over.

Hall was then called into action to make the first of several saves to thwart Donte Brangman from close range.

St George’s gradually began to get a foothold in midfield and create space in the final third and nearly took the lead against the run of play. Dickinson took possession of Bassett’s pass in the box and rounded the advancing Bean, but dragged his shot wide of the open net to leave the teams deadlocked at the break.

Rangers came charging out of the blocks when play resumed and threatened with Brangman having a close-range effort blocked by Jordan Darrell. Stovell then created space just inside of the area but squirted his low shot wide while Damon Ming made a brilliant run to get on the end of Bassett’s cross but watched in horror as his side-footed effort struck the bar.

Hall also made a courageous save at Bassett’s feet right in front of goal.

After weathering the storm, St George’s began stringing passes together and looked threatening on the counter-attack as Rangers lost momentum and ultimately their shape.

Dickinson broke clear on one such raid but placed his effort wide as Bean rushed off his line to narrow the angle.

However, the St George’s forward would not be denied moments later, as he headed home Signor’s well-weighted cross from the left.

Rangers pressed on for an equaliser, forcing Hall to make back-to-back saves to deny substitute Kieshon Wilson. However, the Colts held on to secure a vital points.

SCORERS

St George’s: Dickinson 78

TEAMS

Southampton (4-4-2): S Bean — M Nisbett-Tankard, M Burch, T Manders, K Harrison — T Ming (sub: K Wilson, 73min), D Ming, Q Maynard (sub: V Perinchief, 80), D Brangman — D Stovell, J Basset (sub: C Henry, 68). Substitutes not used: J Hill, R Sampson, R Wright, D Frost. Booked: Stovell.

St George’s (4-4-2): F Hall — J Darrell, J Carlington, P Anderson, E Signor — D Signor, G Wade, A Francis, J Brangman (sub: T Burgess, 57) — S Paynter (sub: O Bascome, 78), J Dickinson (sub: C Burns, 81). Substitutes not used: C Ottley, K Ottley, K Wilson, W Broadley. Booked: D Signor, Carlington, Anderson, E Signor.

Referee: D Jackson.