GREENOCK Wanderers secured only their second league win of the season on Saturday against promoted Garnock in an entertaining game at Fort Matilda.

To be fair to the visitors, they fielded a weakened side owing to their Cup Finals Day appearance next Saturday but notwithstanding that Wanderers showed once more there are quality young players at the club and that a serious attempt at returning to the First Division next season is achievable.

The day was a personal triumph for young centre Seve Giovannacci, who has only recently returned to competitive action after a year-long lay-off with injury. Giovannacci scored a hat-trick of tries, could have had a fourth and was excellent in all facets of play.

The seven-try romp got under way as early as the fifth minute when Giovannacci showed a glimpse of what was to come, as he danced through some ineffective tackling by the visitors" defence to touch down near the posts. Stand off Ant Devlin slotted the conversion and also popped over a penalty to put Wanderers 10-0 up.

On the quarter hour mark Giovannacci had a strong run down the left wing and found space when he cut back inside and sauntered over the line to add to his tally. Devlin did the needful from the tee and stretched the lead to 17-0.

Garnock showed they are not now a Premiership side for nothing and gained the initiative, which led to two successful penalty attempts by stand-off Shaw as the deficit was reduced to 17-6. However, the last 10 minutes of the first half belonged to Wanderers and two great runs by Callum Robb resulted in more points for the hosts.

Firstly, he burst down the left wing and popped an inside pass to David Watson to score, and then produced a carbon-copy run which he finished off himself. Ant Devlin converted both tries and sent the teams in at the interval with Wanderers ahead 31-6.

The second half got under way with Garnock fighting bravely to get back into the match. Flanker Darroch forced his way over the Wanderers line from a well worked rolling maul and his try was converted by Shaw to make the score 31-13. But, just as the visitors were harbouring thoughts of a come-back, that man Giovannacci hammered a further nail into the Garnock coffin with another fine try to complete his hat-trick. Devlin"s conversion effort was true and, with the lead now stretched to 38-13, the points were safely in the bag for the hosts.

In 50 minutes Garnock prop Telfer showed some fine tenacity and burst over the Wanderers line from a lineout to reduce the lead to 31-18, but again it was the hosts who had the last word.

Skipper Chris Clark, who had made several penetrating runs throughout the match, made ground once again and his pop pass to David Watson gave the winger his second try of the afternoon. Wanderers continued to pound away at the Garnock line and, on the hour mark, possession from a fine take at the lineout near the visitors line was spun wide and flying full back Nic Wright took the ball at pace and burst through the Garnock defence to complete the scoring at 48-18 .

Vice-president Dougie Sloan said: 'It was a good performance by the boys and it was good to see them put the ball through the hands. The victory will give them confidence and we can build on some of what we saw today.

'I"d like to wish Garnock all the best for their Shield Final next Saturday at Murrayfield and also in the Premiership next season.' Wanderers host a Rugby Festival next weekend at Fort Matilda, and will face Glasgow Hawks in the showpiece game on Saturday to commemorate the opening of their new clubhouse.

The club completes their league programme the following week when they again play at Fort Matilda against Royal High/Corstorphine.

Wanderers: N. Wright, D. Watson, C. Clark(C), S. Giovannacci, A. Knox, A. Devlin, A. McDougall, M. Coyle, A. McMichael, G. Paterson, N. Paterson, D. Macintyre, J. McKenna, A. Abernethy, C. Robb. Replacements (all used): J. Stewart, R. Lavelle, S. McTavish.

l Wanderers are sponsored by National Semiconductor [UK] Ltd.