Palace got off to a perfect start for the 2007/08 season at St.Mary's with a 4-1 win against one of the promotion favourites Southampton in sweltering conditions on the south coast.

A James Scowcroft hat-trick, his first for Palace and his first since 1998 when he was playing under current Saints boss George Burley at Ipswich Town, put the Eagles in the driving seat before Clinton Morrison edged closer to his 100th Palace goal with a finely executed volley.

It was a solid performance throughout too, with the defence and midfield looking solid to keep a lively looking Saints attack at bay.

It was a bright opening to the game too, with both teams playing some constructive football and it was Palace who had an early chance when Saints defender Alan Bennett hesitated to clear a Mark Kennedy through ball and gave Morrison half a chance to break. He cut back on the edge of the area, but support was lacking and the move was ended when Scowcroft was dispossessed.

At the other end, Julian Speroni was forced into a top save to deny Grzegorz Rasiak when he tipped over the Pole's shot in the 13th minute after the ball was worked out to him on the right hand side of the area.

In the 29th minute, Saints keeper Bartosz Bialkowski had to make a fine save to turn Morrison's near post flick narrowly wide of the post and out for a corner.

From Stuart Green's resulting flag kick, Scowcroft was left totally unmarked six yards out and he made no mistake by planting a firm header home to open Palace's scoring for the season.

The Eagles didn't have to wait long to add to their account either, as a long ball over the top from Matt Lawrence wasn't dealt with by the home defence and Scowcroft got in behind Bennett to lob a shot over the head of Bialkowski and into the goal.

Palace, backed by 3000 noisy fans, were now buzzing and it took a fine save from Bialkowski to deny Tom Soares in the 33rd minute, following a jinking run into the box from the midfielder.

With half time moments away, Palace almost gifted Southampton a lifeline when Kennedy's attempted clearance was miscued and almost rolled into his own net.

The pressure was being thrown on by the visitors though and in first half stoppage time, Palace didn't deal with a hopeful ball into the box and Marek Saganowski made no mistake by blasting a left footed shot into the back of the net with only seconds remaining before the break to givethemselves hope for the second half.

There were no changes for either side at half time and Saints predictably came out with all guns blazing in a bid to get themselves back in the game.

Andrew Surman tried his luck with a fierce drive from the outside of the box, but he found Speroni well positioned to make a fine tip over the bar.

However, it was Palace who were to get that all-important next goal and it was again caused by something of a mix-up in the Saints defence. A ball over the top caught Bialkowski out and rather than let it bounce over his head, he chose to parry it down. Unfortunately for the Polish stopper though, Scowcroft was on hand to bravely stoop and head home into an unguarded goal.

Palace didn't stop there and made it 4-1 just two minutes later, when a ball was put back in to the far post of a crowded area by Kennedy and Morrison swivelled expertly at the far post to fire home a left footed volley past Bialkowski and send the travelling masses wild.

Saints knew they had little chance of finding a way back into the game, but to their credit they continued to press and Rasiak was unfortunate to see a header go narrowly wide of the target following a cross from substitute Adam Hammill.

With the power and guile of Shefki Kuqi and Dougie Freedman by now on for the previous strike pair, Palace were giving the Southampton defence a new series of problems and Kuqi saw a long range effort go narrowly over the bar after spotting Bialkowski off his line.

The game had been won though and Palace comfortably held out through the four minutes that were added on by the officials to record their first set of three points for the new campaign.

Southampton: Bialkowski, Ostlund, Makin (c), Bennett, Vignal (Skacel, 66) Viafara (Hammill, 62) Wright, Safri, Surman, Rasiak, Saganowski (Wright-Phillips, 76). Subs not used: Davis, McGoldrick.

Palace: Speroni, Lawrence, Craig, Hudson (c), Cort, Scowcroft (Freedman, 74) Morrison (Kuqi, 62) Watson, Kennedy (Butterfield, 67) Soares, Green. Subs not used: Flinders, Martin.

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