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News from the Caribbean as of
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Jamaica’s Fuller scores twice to push Saints out of relegation zone
Monday, April 3, 2006
by Gary Smith
Caribbean Net News Sports Correspondent
Email: gary@caribbeannetnews.com
LONDON, England: Jamaican international Ricardo Fuller scored two second-half goals to help his Southampton team ease away from the Coca-Cola Championship relegation zone after they defeated Cardiff 3-2 on Saturday.
Following a scoreless first-half, which only saw Cardiff's defender Glenn Loovens striking the bar, the home side took the lead when another defender, Claus Lundekvam scored a rare goal in the 47th minute.
However, Cardiff quickly equalised through striker Cameron Jerome in the 54th minute to silence the 22,388 supporting fans.
Fuller however, showed Southampton fans what he's capable of doing by netting twice to seal the points for the home side.
The Jamaican, who recently returned to the St. Mary's Stadium after a loan stint with Ipswich Town, gave the Saints the lead for the second time in the 70th minute when he cut inside his marker Darren Purse and shot past goalkeeper Neil Alexander, who had denied him earlier, to net his fourth goal for the club.
Five minutes later Fuller scored his fifth for the club when he volleyed home finally to give his long-suffering Saints fans something to cheer about.
"It was a massive win for us and pushes us closer to safety." said Southampton's head coach George Burley. "It was very important and we were under a lot of pressure but we came up trumps.
"Ricardo (Fuller) kept his head in front of goal and all credit to the boy. He has come back from Ipswich desperate to play and looking sharp, so I had no hesitation putting him in.
"Today he showed his desire and took his goals well and we held out strongly at the end against difficult opposition in what was a pressure game for us."
Purse set up a nervous final few minutes by thumping home a header from Neal Ardley's corner in injury-time.
Another Jamaican forward Marlon King was also on the score sheet but his Watford side went down 3-1 to Crystal Palace in Friday night action.
King put Watford ahead in the 28th minute with his 19th goal of the season, but veteran striker Dougie Freedman equalised in the 55th minute before an own goal by Jordan Stewart and a Jay DeMerit strike sealed the win for Palace.
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