The Boulevard Blazers made hard work of their Coca-Cola First Division encounter yesterday with the St. George's Colts when they only managed to eke out a slender one-goal victory at St. David's.

Boulevard replaced North Village at the top of the tables as the Red Devils went down to Devonshire Colts 1-0.

Despite controlling by far the majority of the play, the Blazers were continually denied by their own poor finishing or solid defensive work by the Colts' back four, marshalled superbly by Neil Paynter.

On paper, Boulevard should have put the east-enders away with ease, with the likes of captain Dwight Warren and midfield schemer Clinton Caisey obviously in fine form. But their attempts at a little too much creativity around Colts' goalmouth time and again left them with little by way of real threats on the goal.

Playing into the strong wind in the first half, the Blazers employed their usual short-passing game and opened gaping holes in the defence. But it was not until the 16th minute of the match that full-back Wayne Richardson unleashed the first shot of the game. The lanky defender lifted his looping volley two feet over the crossbar. On the heels of this effort, Caisey connected with a well taken-header that drew a fine save from St. George's goalkeeper Troy Hall.

The Colts had very little to shout about in the first half as they were limited to a few penetrating runs by left-winger Greg Foggo, which tested the Boulevard defence. The resulting crosses though did nothing to threaten the goal, which was ably tended by Lynn Tucker.

Late in the half, Foggo collected a through ball from Paynter and managed to get behind his marker. The winger pushed a telling cross into the Blazers' six-yard box that went abegging since none of his fellow strikers had kept up with the play.

If the Colts had very little to shout about in the first half, then they had absolutely nothing to shout about in the second! For the entire 45 minutes they managed to get the ball near their opponents' penalty area only twice. On neither occasion did they get it into the penalty area, only able to win a throw-in that, too, was easily cleared by Richardson and company.

But with the strong winds now at their back, the Blazers played with more urgency in a bid to break the deadlock. Only moments into the half, Warren unleashed a low, sizzling free kick that Hall did well to turn around the post. Neil Robinson followed this up with a drifting half-volley that sailed only inches over the top.

Boulevard completely controlled the tempo of play and for the most part penetrated the St. George's defence at will, with Paynter being forced to prove his mettle time and time again.

In the 56th minute, Caisey sliced his way through the defence, but as he wound up to shoot, Paynter managed to block the shot at his feet with a lunging tackle.

As the half wore on it looked like only a matter of time before the Blazers would finally find the net. Their supporters held their collective breath as they watched Caisey's curling drive ram the crossbar with Hall beaten.

After almost 35 minutes of sustained pressure, Boulevard finally found the net with a goal that came in the most unlikely way.

Dean Boyles flighted a perfect corner kick into the six-yard box, and with the strong wind turning it right towards the target, the 'keeper was beaten as it flew into the goal off his fingertips.

The rest of the half mirrorred what preceded it with the Blazers unleashing a barrage of shots at goal, none of which found success.

Boulevard: L.Tucker, A.Brown, W.Richardson, G.Smith, S.Smith, C.Caisey, V.Symonds, N.Robinson, D.Boyles, D.Warren, S.Wade.

St. George's: T.Hall, D.Bailey, F.Greaves, N.Paynter, S.Gibbons, J.Ceiters, D.Richardson, K.Smith, A.Todd, M.Simmons (C.Greaves, 77 mins), G.Foggo.

Referee: Ray Knights.

Men of the match: Clinton Caisey (Boulevard); Troy Hall (St. George's).