Rob O’Brien celebrated with a hat-trick as Southampton romped to a 5-1 derby win over Hampshire/Surrey Regional Division 1 neighbours Hamble at the Sports Centre.

But it was Hamble who scored first when a deflected Matt Cross shot wrong-footed goalkeeper Toby Rigby.

Southampton’s equaliser came from a penalty.

A reverse stick shot from debutant Alejo Pujol hit a Hamble defender on the line and O’Brien stepped up to open his hat-trick account.

By half-time, Southampton were 2-1 up through James Nurse, who scored with a low near post strike.

O’Brien’s third city goal came from a long corner deflection.

Hamble were reduced to nine men by successive yellow cards, leaving Southampton to gain the upper hand.

A short corner drag flick enabled O’Brien to complete his hat-trick before Chris Page got the fifth.

"Great way to start the league,” bubbled Southampton’s Bryn Webber.

“It was a statement of intent from ourselves and really put the hard work in training into the game. It was a physical game and played at a high pace and intensity but we stood firm, really impressed by the effort and hard work"

"We conceded against the run of play but we maintained our composure by scoring five goals. The effort for them players was excellent, whilst its the first game of the season signs of the hard work is paying off"

Fareham II were undone by four Bournemouth short corners – the visitors winning 4-2 at Henry Cort.

Patrick McCalister (2), Liam Pickford and Carl Ferrand all tucked their set pieces away for Bournemouth, who also hit the goal frame twice.

Nick Knight and Ben Cooper scored in each half as Fareham, two goals adrift for long periods, chased the game.

Todd Clark got both goals for newly promoted Wimborne Wayfarers, who lost 3-2 to Epsom, while Basingstoke won 5-1 at Barnes.