STUARY GRAY may be looking to get the Bier in but he already has a potent six-pack at hand.

While it is hoped Oliver Bierhoff will solve last season's goal scoring problems, the rest of the team have responded to the plea for a greater spread of strikes.

In their four full first-team friendlies they have now cracked six of the best - all from different marksmen.

Marian Pahars and Dan Petrescu both produced fizzing finishes to go alongside those by James Beattie, Matthew Le Tissier, Kevin Davies and Claus Lundekvam in previous games.

The share-out is even rosier if you include the semi-senior matches at Farnborough and Aldershot where Uwe Rosler, Jo Tessem, Tahar El Khalej, Mark Peters and Le Tissier (again) added their names to the scoresheet.

It is a healthy distribution of spoils in response to the new manager's challenge that every player bar Paul Jones should be expected to chip in with goals.

The quality of the strikes at Ashton Gate was probably the biggest plus of a one-sided game spoiled only by a late lapse which made the scoreline closer than it should have been.

Despite ringing the changes to give run-outs to some fringe players, Saints looked as sharp as they have done so far - especially in a first half which they controlled almost totally.

Feisty full-back Paul Murray made a strong impact down the right combining well with Dan Petrescu, now pushing on strongly following summer surgery.

But it was the return of Matthew Oakley which perhaps made the biggest difference, providing that missing link between defence and attack.

In only his first senior start of pre-season, he looked sharp and purposeful, always ready to receive the ball from the back line or the flanks, and to set the play moving forward.

He combined well with Anders Svensson, who showed his quality by setting up the second goal on 37 minutes rounding off a neat move by threading a pass through the eye of a needle.

He prised open the defence with a perfectly-weighted ball through the inside right channel for Petrescu to make a trademark break and clip a first-time shot over Mike Stowell.

It was every bit as impressive as the opener on 19 minutes when Pahars latched onto a loose square ball and curled a precise chip just inside the right-hand post from 22 yards.

That came just a minute after Petrescu had kicked Tony Thorpe's thumping header off the line in City's only real noteworthy attack of the half which Saints controlled from the off.

This time they started smartly and snappily closing down well and finding good space and movement on the

Attack, with James Beattie twice volleying just wide from left-wing crosses inside the first four minutes.

The second half was closer as the home side pressed Southampton harder to give them less space in midfield.

Tom Doherty set the tempo with two dangerous two-footed tackles in a minute on a surface made slippery by heavy rain. Referee Clive Wilkes sensibly ordered his substitution.

With Francis Benali sound in the centre of defence, Gray's men had heeded the lesson from midweek in terms of closing the game out rather than going gung-ho for goals.

There was just the one lapse when lack of match-practice and fatigue possibly contributed to Tahar El Khalej being caught in possession by Portuguese under-21 international Albano Correia who calmly steered home from the left of goal.

Saints won the game easing down with a succession of substitutions again disrupting the pattern of play, effectively making it a one-hour match.

That was the reason for Matthew Le Tissier and Mark Draper staying behind to train rather than sit on the bench for just 15 minutes of action.

TEAMCHECK:

Bristol City: Stowell, Carey, Bell, Doherty (Clist 59), Lever, Burnell (57), S Murray (Amankwaah 45), Hulbert (Brown 45), S Jones (Correia 74), Thorpe (Goodridge 79), Tinnion (Coles 82).

Saints: Moss, P Murray (Delap 76), El Khalej, Benali, Bridge, Petrescu (Ripley 62), Oakley, Svensson (Gibbens 72), Davies, Beattie (Rosler 52), Pahars (Tessem 79). Subs: P Jones, Richards, Lundekvam.

Referee: Clive Wilkes (Gloucester).

Attendance: 6,406.