By James Manton

St Albans Saints will start the season in the best possible fashion, with a 4-0 thrashing of Brunswick City at Dunstan Reserve on Saturday afternoon.

In a heavily one-sided display, the Saints outclassed City from the kick-off, with goals from Nick Scerri, Trent Waterson, and Ross Harvey - as well as a Reha Kurul own goal - completing the rout.

St Albans striker Barry Devlin almost opened the scoring in the eighth minute after his thumping header beat the City keeper, only to cannon off the crossbar.

Just eight minutes later, Juan Portillo followed suit at the other end for Brunswick, launching a 20-metre rocket, but was denied by the crossbar yet again.

Devlin had a glorious chance to take the lead but missed a sitter from inside the box, miscuing his shot as the ball became caught in his feet.

However just a few minutes later the deadlock was broken as Scerri hit a perfectly-placed shot from outside the area, nestling it into the top corner to give the Saints the lead.

Taking a well-deserved lead into the break, a sudden spurt of hurricane-like weather couldn't stop St Albans from extending its lead, as a low cross from Waterson slid past Jack Dovey in the Brunswick goals to double the score.

Brunswick almost managed to make its way back into the game as Dimitri Vithoolkas skied a rare shot over the goals, before having a shot saved shortly after with the follow-up from Amara Kromah somehow placed wide.

A heavy tackle from Damir Murusic resulted in the only yellow card for the game, as a bit of niggle crept into the match.

However a few minutes later the result was put beyond doubt as Brunswick defender Kurul flicked a corner into his own goal.

Saints captain Harvey finished off the scoring with a powerful header from another corner just a couple of minutes later to give St Albans the four-goal win.

Brunswick City 0 defeated by St Albans Saints 4 (38' Nick Scerri, 53' Trent Waterson, 73' Reha Kurul (og), 75' Ross Harvey)

Brunswick City: 34. Jack Dovey, 31. Jack COMITI, 39. James NEIGHBOUR, 29. Lucas AOON, 37. Damir MARUSIC, 18. Matthew MURPHY, 3. Michael VARKOPOLOUS(00. Dimitri VITHOOLKAS 40'), 28. Fasile ADEN (23. Cameron WILLIAMS 60'), 10. Juan PORTILLO, 36. Amara KROMAH (9. Ahmet TURNER 60'), 52. Reha Kurul

Unused sub(s): 77. Alessandro VERRATTI, 15. Luke GAVALAS

Yellow cards: 37. Damir MARUSIC 69'

Red cards: Nil

St Albans Saints: 1. Stuart WEBSTER, 2. Ryan MCGUFFIE, 4. Nick SARBIN, 5. Tedros YABIO, 7. Trent WATERSON, 8. Ross HARVEY, 9. Barry DEVLIN (10. Yusuf YUSUF 82'), 11. Nick SCERRI, 12. Damien PETERS, 18. Ben SHAPER (13. Anthony BORIS 78'), 20. Ante KUZOL (20. Daniel SWEENEY 84')

Unused sub(s): 14. Kristian BORIS, 21. John SCOLLO

Yellow cards: Nil

Red cards: Nil

PHOTO: Matt Johnson