St. George's almost made certain of a place in the First Division next season after an emphatic victory over Hotels International at Wellington Oval. Coach Gregory (Brutus) Foggo said his side played some of the best soccer he has seen them play this season. And the result kept the Colts two points clear of their east-end rivals St. David's who, despite also notching a win over Dandy Town, will have to beat St. George's next weekend.

An unlikely four-goal win will carry them past St. George's but their best hope appears to be any win while North Village beat Hotels. Any combination of four will do.

With the strong wind blowing down the length of the pitch from the west yesterday, St. George's had it at their backs in the first half and clearly dominated the early going. They pinned Hotels in their own half for long periods but, as is so often the case, they had great difficulty in converting their domination into goals.

Clay Smith had an early chance when he managed to head the ball over the arms of the advancing Hotels goalkeeper Randy Darrell. With the ball bouncing towards the empty goal, Eugene Simmons maintained the scoreline with a desperate clearance.

Hotels could do very little to keep the Colts at bay, and but for poor finishing should have found themselves at least three goals down at the half.

As it was they were thankful to close out the half only one goal behind. The one score came late when the coach's son, Greg. Jr., leapt beautifully to head an Earl Basden cross at goal.

Wind-assisted, the ball eluded the grasp of Darrell, and referee Rex Osborne adjudged it to have crossed the goal-line before it was cleared by Hotels' Derek Bell.

Knowing that they would have the wind in their faces in the second half, coach Foggo admonished his players during the interval to "slow the play down and control the ball.'' This they did in fine fashion as they produced a calibre of soccer that belied their position in the league tables. From goalkeeper Troy Hall right on up through the forwards, the team played with a composure and direction that created even more scoring opportunities than they had in the first half.

Five minutes after the restart William Richardson streaked down the right wing and found Smith with a perfect pass near the Hotels penalty spot.

The striker coolly controlled the ball, picked his spot and rammed the ball home past the helpless Darrell.

Smith returned the favour to Richardson only moments later with his own defence-splitting pass, but the chance was wasted as Richardson screwed the ball wide of goal.

Hotels had very little to shout about throughout this match as they never looked like matching their more motivated opponents. Their best chance at a goal came early in the second half but Hall reacted beautifully to smother a hard drive from Don Lewis inside the six-yard box.

St. George's sealed the win in the dying minutes with another fine play that saw no less than four players touch the ball before it found the net. Marlon Outerbridge finished the play with a terrific shot from the edge of the area that sizzled into the back of the goal.

St. George's: T.Hall, A.Todd, S.Denbrook, E.Basden, P.Fubler, M.Outerbridge, J.Cieters, G.Foggo, C.Smith, D.Smith, W.Richardson.

Hotels: R.Darrell, E.Simmons, D.Bell, P.Smith, C.Sabir, C.Robinson (A.Philpott, 45 mins), V.Chavez, M.Piper, F.Caparra, D.Lewis, C.Anderson.

Referee: Rex Osborne.

Men of the match: Clay Smith (St. George's); Don Lewis (Hotels).