Veteran striker James Pace struck 13 seconds into the second half to give St.

David's the two points they desperately needed in their fight for survival.

But with neighbours St. George's beating Hotels 3-0 to maintain their two-point lead, the islanders can now only avoid the drop by goal difference.

They either have to beat St. George's by four goals next weekend or beat them by any margin and hope North Village beat Hotels by about four goals.

Had it not been for Pace's first goal of the season yesterday St. David's would have been relegated. For the whole of the first half neither they nor their opponents looked like a First Division team as both were desperately short on ideas.

Dandy Town, with nothing at stake in the league and with their main interest being their FA Cup semifinal replay tomorrow night, rested some key players with Paul Cann, Pernell Douglas and Carlos Smith missing and Walter Musson, Wylie Rudo, Voorhees Astwood and George Dyer sitting on the bench.

St. David's failed to take advantage of that as they badly missed top scorer Jerry Laws who was out injured.

Only two chances of significance came in the first half, the first on the half-hour when Dennis Robinson drove a shot from the left side just inches over.

Minutes later at the other end Patrick White shot over the bar for St.

David's.

After a scrappy first half the match burst to life just moments after the restart when, from the kick-off, St. David's broke the deadlock.

Pace, who missed the majority of the season with a broken foot, gave himself a belated 31st birthday present when he pounced on a back-pass from Wayne Campbell to beat Troy Durham and volley a first-time shot past the stunned Ricky Tucker from inside the penalty box.

It brought the St. David's supporters to life and after that the match was transformed with the home side looking to increase their lead.

Town, with Musson on for Michael Wells at the start of the half, showed more urgency as they sought the equaliser.

Sherwin Hollis nearly doubled the St. David's lead in the 59th minute when he beat Tucker to a ball inside the box to put his shot over the bar. Tucker needed treatment after a collision with Hollis.

Town coach Mark Trott kept his experienced players on the bench as he chose youngster Shumari Gilbert as the second substitute in the 80th minute when he came on for Robinson.

St. David's had to survive an anxious last 10 minutes, which included almost four minutes of injury time, to seal their fifth win of the season. A good run down the right by full-back Lloyd Christopher saw his cross go untouched across an open goal before minutes later midfielder Ross Parsons drove a shot over the top after a move down the left by Musson saw the ball blocked on the line and only half-cleared.

St. David's: G.O'Brien; A.Lugo, W.Smith, C.Richardson, G.Swainson (E.Wolffe, 61 mins); A.Darrell, S.Hollis, S.Pitcher, P.White (E.Crockwell, 83 mins), S.Smith, J.Pace.

Dandy Town: R.Tucker; L.Christopher, R.Parsons, W.Campbell, N.Paynter, T.Durham, L.Furbert, D.Robinson (S.Gilbert, 80 mins), L.Cann, M.Wells (W.Musson, 45 mins), F.Simmons.

Referee: Roddy Burchall.

Men of the match: Shea Pitcher (St. David's); Lionel Furbert (Dandy Town).