St. David's coach Garrett Dill still believes his team can escape relegation, but he is taking one game at a time.

And if yesterday's east end derby at Lord's is any measure of that task it will be a very tough battle.

St. David's, without several key players, just had too much heart for a St.

George's team which admits to having problems finding the net.

It took two goals from James Pace to finish their close rivals, but it could have been a different result if the visitors had taken any of a string of chances.

Pace will not get two easier headers, but his second with just a minute to go was vital in finishing off the St. George's challenge.

Man-of-the-match Otis (O.J.) Minors started the game impressively, hitting a long shot which just skidded wide of Troy Hall's post.

In the 13th minute, a sloppy clearance from the St. George's defence found Minors and he played a one-touch pass to Lionel Cann who jigged his way to the goal line. Cann's cross was perfectly weighed for Pace to slam the header into the net.

St. George's tried to hit back immediately and piled on the pressure with home keeper Sydney Minors forced to make a great tackle when Sinclair Gibbons found himself in the clear.

The visitors seemed to let frustrations of previous games get on top of them and their goal-scoring attempts were ill-timed and well off target on many occasions.

The closest St. George's came to scoring, during a succession of goal-mouth scrambles, came in the 32nd minute when Neil Paynter headed goalwards and the ball ricocheted around the six yard box before it was cleared off the line by debutant Michael Kelly.

St. David's almost went two up just before the half when Troy Hall was caught dribbling the ball close to the halfway line. Hall appeared to be fouled but referee Burchall allowed play to continue and Cann lobbed towards the net helped on by Pace but the ball went wide.

Incidents in the second half were few and far between but generally concerned St. George's pushing forward and hitting speculative long shots.

All the time they were pushed on by Carlos Greaves, the only man matching St.

David's for heart. Oddly, he was substituted with 10 minutes to go.

Frustration overcame St. George's substitute Kuma Smith when he made a reckless tackle on Garic Swainson and was booked.

But the game finished with celebrations for St. David's as Minors found himself on the end of a long cross by Cann. He controlled the ball and swung in a cross right into the path of the advancing Pace who headed it strongly into the back of the net.

A delighted coach Dill said: "We will have to take one game at a time. This is a derby match and if I could get the team to show this much heart every week we would not be in trouble.'' St. David's: S.Minors, S.Jones, M.Kelly, G.Swainson, O.Minors, E.Crockwell, R.Smith (K.Wade 83 mins), S.Robinson, J.Pace, L.Cann, J.Laws.

St. George's: T.Hall, N.Paynter, D.Bailey, A.Todd, F.Greaves, C.Greaves (C.Simmons 80 mins), D.Walker, M.Outerbridge, G.Foggo, M.Simmons (Kuma Smith 67 mins), S.Gibbons.

Referee: Roddy Burchall.

Men of the match: Otis Minors (St. David's); Carlos Greaves (St. George's).

Southampton 0, Boulevard 1 Yesterday at the Southampton Oval, home team Southampton did not acquit themselves very well on new coach Gary Darrell's coaching debut as they fell to the Boulevard Blazers in what proved to be an exciting encounter.

Southampton started the game with a no-nonsense attitude as they took the game to the Blazers from the opening whistle. However, a momentary defensive lapse combined with horrendous shooting would ultimately lead to their demise.

In the fifth minute of play, Eugene Pitt had his 20-yard blast rocket off the crossbar and back out to Boulevard keeper Lynn Tucker. Ten minutes later, Wendell Simons fed a pass to Olin Jones who likewise saw his effort skim the bar.

These two near misses set Boulevard in motion as they seemed to get more on track and nearly capitalised on their own opportunities.

Dwight Warren's ever-dangerous presence nearly paid dividends for the Blazers in the 16th minute when Carlos Pearman's feed down the wing nearly resulted in a score. Unfortunately, Warren drilled his shot just wide of goal. A minute later, Pearman had his powerful header headed off the line by Thomas Jones.

Boulevard sustained the pressure and after a long forward pass from Amon Brown to Kenny Hill saw Hill's effort go just wide of goal.

Southampton were not without their scoring opportunities and should have put away at least three easy scoring chances. With the game barely two minutes into the second half, Michael Brangman got by his defender and had his blast snatched beautifully out of the air by the keeper, foiling another Southampton raid.

Three minutes later, Boulevard would show Southampton how to capitalise when after a low cross into the penalty area, Warren neatly flicked the ball over the defence to an opportunistic Kenny Hill, who headed the ball home from in close.

During the next 20 minutes, both sides played constructive soccer as the game see-sawed back and forth. However, poor finishing by both sides, with Southampton being the more guilty of the two, led to frustration for both players and fans alike as shots went begging.

In the 25th minute, Warren nodded the ball forward to a running Hill who rifled his blast off the post from two yards out. Southampton, undaunted by the near miss, rallied themselves when Lamar Seymour sent Brangman through as he fired wide from 10 yards. Southampton wasted another golden opportunity a minute later when the ball skipped off the head of defender Wayne Richardson to the feet of Ascento Russell. Russell shot well over from the six-yard box.

The best scoring opportunity of the game came two minutes from regulation time with Brangman again being involved in the play. It developed when Southampton's Seymour pushed the ball by a defender to Brangman who was running on the ball.

The ball managed to elude two Boulevard players who were covering on the play and was intercepted by Brangman. Brangman carried the ball into the penalty area but instead of firing from six yards he dribbled the extra step and lost control and wasted a good opportunity with the keeper out of position.

Southampton: R.Darrell, W.Simons, D.Charles, R.Belboda, E.Pitt (L.Seymour 73rd min), T.Jones, O.Jones, A.Russell, E.Brangman, M.Brangman, J.Raynor, (M.DeMoura 70th min).

Boulevard: L.Tucker; D.Boyles, W.Richardson, G.Smith, A.Brown, C.Caisey, C.Pearman, S.Smith, H.Bascome (A.Smith 73rd min), K.Hill, D.Warren.

Referee: Frank Drayton.

Men of Match: Randy Darrell (Southampton) Carlos Pearman (Boulevard).