Southampton Rangers, despite being reduced to 10 men five minutes from time, were unlucky not to win a dull encounter in the driving rain at Southampton Oval.

By the time Shawn Simons was sent off by referee Peter Sousa for swearing, Rangers should have had victory wrapped up.

But they failed to take advantage of large spells of second-half pressure and could not find a way past Keenan Tucker in the Vasco goal.

The biggest surprise of the match was that more goals were not scored on a day made for defensive errors.

But Tucker and his Rangers counterpart, Randy Darrell, did extremely well to cope with a succession of hard, low shots that skidded along the ground as both attacks sought to exploit the conditions.

Rangers took the lead in the 30th minute with a goal from their best player, player/coach Kenny Burt.

Olin Jones, from wide on the left, blasted in a free kick with the outside of his left foot, which Tucker, for once, could not hold.

The ball went to Burt who stabbed home from close range at the second attempt following a goalmouth scramble.

Until then, Vasco had enjoyed the better of the play, with midfielder Paul Towlson, in particular, looking dangerous.

First, he went in bravely to win the ball on the edge of the 18-yard box and laid on a pass to Irving Burgess, who should have done better with his shot.

Minutes later, Towlson had a 30-yard effort plucked out of the air by Darrell.

Rangers had held the lead for only five minutes before Voorhees Astwood equalised with a firmly-struck 18-yard shot from the left that was deflected past Darrell. Rangers came out ready for action in the second half and launched a succession of raids on the Vasco goal.

A superb pass by Burt put Omari Hart through but he was too slow getting to the ball and Tucker came charging out of his goal to clear.

Jones, with his vicious crosses, and the ever-alert Burt began to dominate up front.

Jones blasted a 25-yard free kick just wide of the goal after Burt had been brought down and, five minutes later, Burt almost managed to deflect a Jones shot into the Vasco net.

But Rangers could not convert their domination into goals and almost paid the price in the 76th minute when Vasco's Burgess, from just two yards, made a poor attempt to connect with a ball that was played across the face of the Rangers goal and missed it altogether.

Two minutes later, Rangers had their best chance of the half, but Shawn Simons' shot was blocked by the legs of a diving Tucker.

Rangers had one final chance to win in the last minute but Burt's goal-bound shot was deflected wide.

Southampton: R.Darrell; T.Jones, R.Belboda, D.Charles, P.Brangman; O.Jones, W.Simons, J.Raynor; O.Hart (B.Harris, 80 mins), K.Burt, S.Simons.

Vasco: K.Tucker; E.Richardson, D.Brown, D.Livingston, J.Cunha; V.Astwood, P.Towlson, K.Roberts, C.Lloyd; C.Bell (A.Wolffe, 70 mins), I.Burgess (A.Cabral, 88 mins).

Referee: Peter Sousa.

Men of the match: Kenny Burt (Southampton); Keenan Tucker (Vasco).