IT CERTAINLY wasn't footballing weather at St Mary's on Saturday but Kevin Phillips still looked ice cool.

The Saints striker looks on ominous form going into the big Premiership opener at Aston Villa at the weekend, and for my money this will be the year where he proves he's one of the very best in the business yet again.

Even when he struggled for goals in the first half of last season his all-round game was still superb. He oozes class.

Look at the number of times the ball gets hit from back to front to his feet and you can count the number of times he fails to hold on to it on one hand.

He will be vital if Saints are to succeed in playing their more direct style of play under Paul Sturrock this season.

The ball will go from the back up to Phillips quickly and he will be looking to hold the ball up with his back to goal and give it to on-running midfield players, spinning and then getting in the area to stick it in the goal.

He also excels at the latter part of that equation. Phillips is a goal-getter and he's not happy unless he's scoring goals.

You get the impression he would be at his happiest if he could just run around fields smashing in goals all day everyday.

And what makes Phillips even more dangerous is that he's hungry. He knows he only has a matter of four or five years left at the top level and he wants to win something.

Phillips never comments about his England chances but the way he played at the end of last season an international call-up couldn't have been far off. As Sturrock has said, his chances have only been enhanced by the performances of the England strikers in Euro 2004.

They cried out for an experienced player that could hold the ball up - Phillips is the best man for the job.

His two goals in two minutes against Chievo at St Mary's, which secured the Ted Bates Trophy, were as clinical as ever and took his pre-season tally to four in three and a half games.

After a sluggish start in which the Italians had generally been on top, Chievo took the lead on 13 minutes when Brazilian striker Carvalho de Oliveira Amauri spun and fired a shot into the far corner.

After Mikael Nilsson had gone close and a combination of Graeme Le Saux and the cross bar and a great double save from Antti Niemi had prevented Saints from conceding another, Phillips got going.

He uncharacteristically missed an opportunity on 33 minutes when he blasted over after being played through by Fabrice Fernandes.

But he more than made up for it three minutes later when he fired home two goals in the space of 60 seconds.

For the first Phillips received the ball on the left wing and ghosted past a couple of challenges before dragging a low shot into the near corner from 25 yards.

The second was classic Phillips. Fernandes had shown great determination to shoulder barge a Chievo midfielder off the ball and immediately slipped it into Phillips' path and he made no mistake in finishing hard and low across the keeper and in off the far post.

Phillips was withdrawn on the hour mark, having done his day's work and sounded a warning shot to the rest of the Premiership.

Elsewhere in the team, Nilsson played well on both the left and right side of midfield, while Yoann Folly and David Prutton gave an accomplished performance in the centre of midfield.

The defence wasn't as strong as always, and the heat was a valid excuse as at pitch level it was boiling, and Chievo threatened to equalise several times during the second half.

After Claus Lundekvam had a header well saved by Chievo sub keeper Sergio Marcon, Saints' sub keeper Paul Smith had to get to work.

He pulled off three good stops while Le Saux again had to clear off the line before Chievo rattled the frame of the goal with a powerful drive from 18 yards.

Nilsson also skimmed the cross bar with a deep cross before sub Jelle van Damme fired home a low free kick from the right wing in injury time to secure a 3-1 win but there was no doubt who was the star of the show.