Southampton Rangers moved back into the top six in the standings and kept alive their hopes of Martonmere Cup football next season when Eugene Pitt slammed home the winner in the second half of this First Division clash at PHC Stadium yesterday.

A closely-contested affair was finally settled in the 69th minute after Desmond Burgess brought down Rohaan Simons deep on the left side. Ryan Belboda flighted the ball into the PHC penalty area and when goalkeeper Jay Smith dropped it, Pitt turned and fired home from close range.

Both teams had good chances to snatch the lead earlier, but were denied by the crossbar or poor finishing. The best of the earlier chances fell to Shawn Simmons, Rangers' former PHC defender, whose long range volley dropped just over the bar.

Ottis Steede of PHC drove an effort just over the bar after taking a pass from Brian Anderson and working his way into the box on the right side. Then Corey Dowling put a 25-yard shot straight at Randy Darrell in the Rangers goal as PHC enjoyed a good spell.

Anderson went closest for the home team when he smashed a shot from the edge of the penalty area against the crossbar in the 28th minute. Just before the break a good move by Rangers resulted in striker Herbie Dillas volleying over the bar from the right side of the box.

Rangers were forced to make their first substitution after only 26 minutes when midfielder Nashon Smith limped off with a knee injury and was replaced by Tillman Darrell.

The chances continued after the restart as Kenny Mills saw his shot deflected for a corner by 'keeper Darrell after Sheridan Ming's effort was parried and Mills moved in on the rebound. The two players combined in the 58th minute but this time Ming shot into the sidenetting after Mills created the opening with a strong run into the box from the left side.

Simmons almost added to the Rangers lead late in the match when he pushed forward from defence and got off a shot that was tipped against the crossbar by Jay Smith in the PHC goal.

PHC: J.Smith; M.Williams, D.Outerbridge, D.Burgess, C.Dowling, B.Anderson, D.Rawlins, O.Steede, K.Mills, S.Ming (A.Furbert 83 mins), W.Trott (S.Astwood 60 mins).

Southampton: R.Darrell; E.Brangman, R.Belboda, P.Brangman, S.Simmons, J.Raynor, E.Pitt, N.Smith (T.Darrell 26 mins), H.Dillas, R.Simons, A.Wolffe (D.Tucker 80 mins).

Referee: Lyndon Raynor Men of match: Corey Dowling (PHC), Rohaan Simons (Southampton) St. George's 0 Boulevard 1 FA Cup finalists Boulevard didn't enjoy the goal feast they expected against already relegated St. George's as in the end only Rodney Bascome's 13th minute goal, set up by Dwight Warren, could separate the teams at Wellington Oval.

Fred Richardson had an outstanding game at sweeper for the home team, denying Boulevard several scoring opportunities as Earl Basden stood firm in the St.

George's goal. Boulevard moved level on 25 points with fourth-placed North Village while St. George's are still chasing their first win.