By Daniel Campos (@francisfields)

St Albans Saints boss Toby Paterson had warned rivals they would be on the receiving end of a flurry of goals and that was certainly the case on Sunday afternoon at Churchill Reserve as the Saints defeated Brunswick City 4-0.

Another standout performance by Saints' defender Barry Devlin, who scored twice, was testament to his leadership and maturity as a competitive Brunswick City failed to break down the Saints’ rear guard.

Ryan McGuffie and winger Juso Julardzija rounded out the 4-0 scoreline.

Fifteen minutes in and the Saints' opportunities went unrewarded, with goalkeeper Mason Interlandi's safe hands denying the home side time and time again.

Julardzija had a clear miss right in front of Interlandi, but it was Devlin who soon roared up from the back and into the 18-yard box and made his presence felt with a header to open the scoring after 31 minutes, before heading into the back of the net just five minutes later to secure his brace.

McGuffie netted the Saints’ third in the 40th minute to ensure the three points were in the bag even before halftime.

The break didn’t halt the Saints’ momentum, with Julardzija adding the fourth and final goal in the 47th minute.

With incessant attempts to open up play out onto the wings, Brunswick’s Dimitri Vithoulkas and Michael Varkopoulos did what they could to test the Saints' defensive capabilities, but the visitors lacked the class and polish to find the back of the net.

Rory McIlroy looked threatening for St Albans, while youngster Ajak Panek looked settled with his aforementioned strike partner, with the partnership starting to become a force to be reckoned with.

On the hour mark, Panek went on a slalom run and dribbled past Brunswick’s defenders, only to hesitate upon finishing one-one-one against an outstanding Interlandi in goal, who was responsible for denying the Saints a mammoth victory.

Brunswick City's performance had lifted after the break, but it opted for aerial balls too often to make life easy for veteran defender Devlin, who easily picked them off to ensure the Saints would keep a clean sheet.

Paterson was pleased with side’s blazing start to the contest.

"It (the win) is a credit to my boys because there are displays of intensity right from the start,” Paterson said.

"By sticking to our game plan, we are meaning business and even with a mediocre state in the surface of our pitch, we make this factor almost insignificant as we deal with it by working hard, and we get down to playing one hundred per cent.”

Paterson said the strike partnership between Panek and McIlroy was starting to pay dividends.

"We have a team that still requires time to gel, and both Ajak (Panek) and Sean McIlroy are learning to play by finding each other. So far, I cannot complain. In all honesty, by creating chances we are increasing our possibilities to score and that has been the case all season,” he said.

St Albans visits Richmond on Friday night, while Brunswick City hosts Kingston City in Round 10 action.

MATCH DETAILS

St Albans Saints 4 (Devlin 31', 36', McGuffie 40', Julardzija 47') defeated Brunswick City 0 at Churchill Reserve [HT: 3-0]

St Albans Saints: 1. Stjepan GAL (GK), 4. Barry DEVLIN, 5. Felix ROSMAN, 2. Ryan McGUFFIE, 17. Adam NAKIC, 15. Konrad DOBRASZKIEWICZ, 11. Ryan BALDACCHINO (13. Nicholas CULLEN 45'), 10. Brodie PATERSON, 16. Ajak DANEK (18. Tedderos YABIO 79') , 9. Sean McILROY, 7. Juso JULARDZIJA (6. Martin MASON 66').
 
Unused Subs: 21. Tonio BARESIC (GK), 14. Christopher ROSS

Yellow Cards: Barry DEVLIN (6')

Red Cards: None

Brunswick City: 44. Mason INTERLANDI (GK), 4. Manny KARAS, 11. Admir KOLAKOVIC (3. Vani SHAMOON 49'), 14. Denis SADIK, 8. Nick TEREZAKIS 6. Oktay OZTEKIN, 15. Alex GIANETTA (16. Abdallah ABDALLAH 76’), 22. Costas THANIS, 9. Fatih TURSA (77 George MIHELEN 69') 7. Michael VARKOPOULOS, 99. Dimitri VITHOULKAS,

Unused Subs: 45. George MARKELIS, 20. Rojdar ZENGIN (GK)

Yellow Cards: Denis SADIK (43’)

Red Cards: Nil