It was a case of third time lucky for home team St. George's Colts after a Clay Smith special in the 62nd minute finally put them in front to stay at Wellington Oval yesterday.

Twice previously they took the lead only to see stubborn PHC come charging back with a quick equaliser. And though there was nearly a half hour separating Smith's winner from the final whistle there was no way back for the young Zebras this time as St. George's hung on against fit and eager opponents to pick up their second straight win which lifts them to fourth in the standings.

If some degree of luck was with the home team then PHC can certainly argue they didn't have any, as twice they hit the framework, the first time as early as the second minute of the match when Raynel Lightbourne smashed a shot from 20 yards against the crossbar with goalkeeper Troy Hall beaten.

PHC had a fair share of the early exchanges as St. George's were forced to make an early substitution, bringing on Clay Smith for the injured Gregg Foggo in the 15th minute.

Smith's presence immediately gave the attack a new look about it, with the opening goal coming in the 31st minute in the midst of another good spell by PHC. A free kick on the left by midfielder Dwayne Richardson got through a crowded penalty area to meet Neil Paynter at the far post and he made amends for his handball in the Martonmere Cup semi-final last week against Vasco by driving in his first goal of the season.

Within a minute PHC scored the first of their two equalisers when Shawn Simons scored from close range after the St. George's defence failed to clear the danger.

The 1-1 half-time score became 2-1 within a minute of the second half when Jerry Laws' shot towards goal was deflected off the boot of Ottis Steede and past Jason Robinson in goal.

But PHC were always convinced they could get something out of this game and their determination was rewarded again in the 53rd minute when they scored again to make it 2-2. A free kick on the right side of the penalty area by Simons found the head of striker Kenny Mills who scored with a free header inside the far post.

For the second successive league match Smith scored the winner for St.

George's from a free kick. It came after Derek Wright was fouled on the right side of the penalty box and, with a curling left-footed shot Smith found the back of the net after a slight deflection beat Robinson.

St. George's had to pull out all the stops after that to hang onto the slim lead, as substitute Winston Trott met a cross from Steede to head wide of the far post in the 74th minute. Two minutes later Hall made an important point blank save from a sidefoot from Mills.

Then a free kick outside the penalty box was touched by Steede for Dano Outerbridge who smashed a rocket against the far post before Trott put the rebound over the top.

PHC dominated the closing minutes but Hall in goal and the defenders in front of him refused to throw away a third lead, though there was a big sigh of relief from the home team at Richard Knight's final whistle.

It was the third straight loss for PHC at Wellington Oval, with their last league triumph there coming in November, 1992.

St. George's: T.Hall; A.Todd (K.Moreno 47 mins), N.Paynter, Q.Francis, D.Bailey; D.Wright, D.Richardson, M.Outerbridge; G.Foggo (C.Smith 15 mins), J.Laws, D.Minors.

PHC: J.Robinson; S.Trott, R.Lewis, D.Outerbridge, C.Dowling; W.Crockwell, D.Rawlins, O.Steede, S.Simons, R.Lightbourne (W.Trott 67 mins), K.Mills.

Men of match: Troy Hall (St. George's), Shawn Simons (PHC).

Referee: Richard Knight