New Santos vs West Belfast
With the end of the season approaching quickly, Santos faced third placed West Belfast in dire need of a win to keep their hopes of avoiding relegation alive.
The game started with West Belfast dominating possession of the ball whilst not creating with Santos’ defence keeping them at bay. On 25 minutes, West Belfast took the lead that their dominance deserved.
Santos were struggling to create anything of note in the first half however went into the half-time break only a goal down and with plenty of room for improvement.
Half-time: New Santos 0-1 West Belfast
Five minutes into the second half, Santos were gifted a lifeline when a West defender inexplicably punched the ball away in his own penalty area conceding a penalty followed by a red card. Martin Magee stepped up and equalised and gave Santos new hope.
Santos pushed on further looking for the winner and used the extra man to good effect as they gradually came into the game more and more. As Santos pushed forward however, a neat move down the left released a West striker who finished well one-on-one with JP Byrne to give the 10 men the lead with 15 minutes left.
Santos continued to push forward but could not break down the West defence which held out and secured the win as Santos missed out on a good opportunity to close the gap on Newington at the bottom.
Full-time: New Santos 1-2 West Belfast
New Santos team:
GK: JP Byrne
DR: Martin Cunningham
DL: Kevin Carson
DC: David Dougan
DC: Kieran Seaward
MR: Paul Barr
ML: Stevie Copeland
MC: Johnny Magill
MC: Martin Magee
SC: Padraig Henry (Paddy O’Reilly)
SC: David Harrigan (Ronan Doherty)
Goalscorers: Martin Magee pen
M.o.t.M Vote Results:
David Dougan – 3
Martin Cunningham – 2
