SAINTS enjoyed the upper hand on south coast rivals Pompey for the second year running at the Southern Masters veterans tournament.

In 2003 Saints romped to a 4-0 win over their Premiership rivals at the qualifying heat for the national indoor football tournament.

And on Saturday goals from Dell favourites Matt Le Tissier and Francis Benali gave Saints a 2-1 victory.

But despite that triumph they were unable to qualify for the final from their round-robin group.

They needed Spurs to beat Arsenal in the final qualifying round game to reach the final, but a 1-1 draw ensured both north London rivals progressed.

There Spurs romped to a 6-1 victory to go through to the national final to be held in Sheffield in early September.

Saints had come from 1-3 down to draw 3-3 with Spurs in their first group match thanks to two goals from Le Tissier and one from Benali.

Benali was on target in the 2-1 defeat against Arsenal which left them requiring other results to go in their favour if they were to reach the final.

Le Tiss, meanwhile, rolled back the years with a superb left-footed shot against Pompey which won him the Lego trophy for the Goal of the Tournament.

Benali said: "It was great to beat Pompey again and great to score.

"It would have been nice to have reached the final, but it was an enjoyable day.

"It was good to have a run round and work up a sweat.

"I've hardly played since I retired and it was hard work - those games are competitive."

Saints were roared on by over 100 fans at the Buckinghamshire ice rink - considerably more than Pompey, whose first team were playing a friendly at Torquay United.

"Le Tiss and Benali stood out for us but that was about it really," said Steve Grant of the SaintsAway Supporters association who had helped obtain cut-price tickets for travelling supporters.

"We had a good bit of banter with the Spurs fans, it was a good day out - though unbelievably hot inside for an ice rink!"

Both Le Tissier and Benali are household names to any Saints fan.

But none of the eight other players in the squad had made more than 100 starts for the club.

Unlike two players who were on opposing sides in the final at Milton Keynes - midfielder Steve Williams (Arsenal) and defender Neil Ruddock (Spurs).

Ruddock, along with Le Tissier, Benali and Mark Robson of Spurs, were the day's tournament top-scorers with three apiece.

Of the other players in the Saints squad, striker Craig Maskell made just 11 starts in two spells at The Dell while goalkeeper Keith Granger let in 11 goals - six at Everton and five at Spurs - in his only two first-team appearances under Chris Nicholl in the final two matches of the 1985/86 campaign.

Scottish winger Paul McDonald, though, never made a first-team start for Saints, managing just four sub appearances in the mid-1990s.

Most of the Saints squad still live locally - Steve Baker and Dave Puckett are Saints academy coaches while Granger helps out coaching the goalkeepers at St Mary's.

Mark Blake was part of Winchester City's treble-winning squad last season while Craig Maskell was playing for Staines Town last season.

Richard Dryden is a coach at Conference club Tamworth United while Ray Wallace was released by Gillingham at the end of last season.