Chris Annabell scored in the opening 60 seconds, as part of a standout match where he took the three MVP team points due to his added workload after Kyle Graham-Luke withdrew with illness, replaced by Todd Dixon.
"Just [Annabell's] general play in the middle of the park was fantastic," said Francis.
Josh Jonas scored the first of his brace of goals in the ninth minute, while City were finding it all to easy when Jake Lockett found the back of the net 120 seconds later.
With the "nuisance" wind coming across field and slightly into City's faces for the second half, the team actually played some better football during that 45 minutes, even if they only won it 2-1.
"We played shorter passes and let the ball do the work," said Francis.
Several shots ricocheted off the posts, the cross bar, and the goalie, before finally one deflection went City's way as Red Sox gave up an own goal off a defender.
City goalie Merrick Slade had been eager to keep a clean sheet, but unfortunately was thinking two steps ahead when he went to collect one Red Sox shot and dropped it in goal, one black mark on what was otherwise an excellent performance.
Playing on the right of the park, Jonas got his second goal right at the end of the game.
City therefore completed their campaign back up in Federation League with a 5-1-8 record, scoring 31 goals and conceeding 40, while Red Sox's wooden spoon season is mercifully over with a 0-1-13 record, having given up 63 goals while scoring only nine.
"The boys deserved that win and that back end of the season has been good for them," Francis said.
City will now have a three week break while the format is confirmed for this year's Charity Cup competition, with the holder's coach Jason King of GJ Gardner Wanganui Athletic looking at ideas of how to involve teams from other tiers of local Wanganui football.
