New Santos vs Willowbank
Premier Division
12/03/2011 2pm, Strangford Avenue
Off the back of their first defeat in almost 4 months, Santos faced bottom of the table Willowbank in a match that could likely determine the future of both sides in the Premier Division.
The first half began with Santos taking the game to Willowbank and forced a couple of corners early on as they took a grip on early precedings. The pressure paid off when Simon Magee and Ciaran Caldwell caused problems in the opposing area leading to Magee squaring for winger Dave Harrigan to calmly slot home from 10 yards on 15 minutes.
Willowbank responded well to going a goal down and equalised on the half hour mark after poor marking from a corner allowed a midfielder a free header which was finished well from 12 yards out. After the goal however, Santos began dominating again and Joe Magee came within inches with a fine header from a corner. He made no mistake minutes later however as he pounced on a loose ball in the box to prod home and give Santos the lead going into half time.
Half Time: New Santos 2-1 Willowbank
Willowbank began the second half with a sense of urgency that they had seem to lack for most of the previous half and they started to settle into the game and maintained the majority of possession for the first 15 minutes of the half. For all their possession they were largely unable to pose the Santos defence any serious problems with the exception of one glaring miss from 6 yards out.
The main threat from Santos' was on the counter attack with the pace of Magee and Caldwell wreaking havoc in the Willowbank defence. Both came close on several occasions to increasing the lead but it was Caldwell who managed to out-do the Willowbank sitter with a miss from two yards out. With Willowbank increasing the pressure, it was a counter attack that led to the third. The ball broke for Kev Kerr who played an exquisite through ball to Magee who blitzed past the defence and finished clinically from a tight angle.
Willowbank kept battling to the end but lacked the cutting edge that had deserted them for most of the game and Santos held on for a massive victory to extend their lead over Willowbank to 6 points in the league.
Next stop is the Nelson Cup Semi-Final vs St Malachys next week at Mallusk!
Full time: New Santos 3-1 Willowbank
New Santos team:
GK - J.P. Byrne
LB - Kevin Carson (C)
CB - Martin Magee
CB - Joe Magee
RB - Johnny Halliday
LM -
Gareth Cullen
CM - Kevin Kerr (Eamon Caldwell)
CM - Kieran Seaward
RM - David Harrigan (Chris Jones)
ST - Simon Magee
(Paddy O'Reilly)
ST - Ciaran Caldwell
Goals - D Harrigan, J Magee, S Magee
MOTM - K Seaward
