West Belfast vs New Santos
Going into the final game of the season for both times, their was nothing to play for in terms of league position but Santos manager Ronan Doherty insisted that Santos play with a bit of pride in a bid to end a dreadful season on a positive note.
Doherty got what he wanted as Santos started the brighter of the two sides putting the West defence under pressure early on. Santos took the lead following great determination by Martin Magee as he barged through the penalty area before laying the ball off to Jim McAvoy to notch his first goal for the club with only ten minutes played.
Soon after West equalised following poor defending from the Santos backline. Santos responded well and brought about the most controversial moment of the game. Paddy O’Reillys attempted lob over the Wests’ keeper was saved but the referee deemed it to be outside the box and awarded Santos a free kick for hand ball. Under normal circumstances the goalkeeper would have been sent off but the referee decided to take no further action.
From then on in Santos struggled. West Belfast piled on the pressure and began to win individual battles all over the pitch. Before half time they added two goals to give them a comfortable break at half time.
Half-time: West Belfast 3-1 New Santos
The last 45 minutes of the season were to prove to be a miserable reflection on the rest of the season. West Belfast took full control of the game and pattered the New Santos goal with shots. Santos managed to come close once in the second half as James Martins shot went just wide.
However, despite JP Byrnes valiant efforts in goal, West continued to add to the score line and the match ended up an embarrassing seven goal rout.
Full-time: West Belfast 7-1 New Santos
GK: JP Byrne
DR: Martin Cunningham (Ronan Doherty)
DL: Kevin Carson (James Martin)
DC: Joe Magee
DC: David Dougan
MR: David Harrigan
ML: Jim McAvoy
MC: Kieran Seaward (Michael West)
MC: Paul Barr
SC: Martin Magee
SC: Paddy O’Reilly
Goalscorers: Jim McAvoy (Martin Magee assist)
M.o.t.M: JP Byrne
