Two late goals in the final minutes by Rodney Bascome and substitute Vernon Phillips ruined any hopes a spirited Southampton team had of taking this Friendship Trophy clash into penalty kicks at Somerset last night.

Until the double strike in the last two minutes, Boulevard were hanging on to a first-half goal by Tafari Outerbridge which never looked to be sufficient to hold off a Rangers team which always threatened to hit back.

After Outerbridge put Boulevard ahead on 32 minutes, scoring when the defence were unable to deal with a cross from the right, Southampton fought back courageously in the second half and could have drawn level and even taken the lead had they made better use of their chances.

Spearheaded by the tormenting runs of Rohaan Simons, they pinned Boulevard down for long spells -- but wasted opportunites let them down.

It was Simons who tested goalkeeper Mitchell Steede after 50 minutes, slamming a fierce 25-yarder which was pushed outside.

From the resulting corner, striker Herbie Dillas remarkably miskicked from only two yards out.

Southampton followed this up with right full back Neville Grant forcing Steede to push his 22-yard blast away for another corner.

With Southampton unable to take advantage of these openings, Boulevard wrapped up victory late in the game with Bascome scoring after 89 minutes and Phillips right at the end.

Boulevard: M.Steede; D.Wainwright (V.Phillips), L.Stevens, M.Trott, A.Caisey; J.Warren, T.Outerbridge, R.Bascome; C.Simmons (A.Brown, 45 mins), S.Wade, N.Robinson.

Southampton: R.Darrell; N.Grant, O.Riley, R.Belboda, D.Vickers (M.Higgs, 75 mins); J.Raynor (A.Tucker, 88 mins), E.Pitt, C.Simmons; S.Ming, H.Dillas, R.Simons.

Referee: Richard Knight Men of the match: Mitchell Steede (Boulevard); Rohaan Simons (Southampton).

In an earlier Commercial League B Knockout match, Fire Services defeated Valley 3-2 on goals by Troy Furbert (2) and substitute Roger Dill. Kevin McNeil and Kevin Isaac scored for Valley.