New Santos vs St Lukes

Following on from a poor run off form, Santos took on St Lukes with what was the closest to being a full squad the team has had in weeks.

St Lukes started the brighter off the two sides as Santos struggled to settle early on. St Lukes took the lead with around 15 minutes played with a controversial goal. A ball into the box was met with an attempted scissor kick which was miscued and fell to a St Lukes striker only accompanied by JP Byrne around the 6 yard box and the striker was left with a simple tap in. With the St Lukes manager doing referee, it was going to be a long, hard game for Santos. Santos responded and put pressure on the St Lukes defence, with returning captain Martin Magee going close from 25 yards. St Lukes dealt with the pressure well though and scored a second. This time a weighted ball over the top left the Santos defence stranded and the unmarked striker produced a fine finish across JP Byrne and into the top corner.

Santos went into the break 2 down, but with a definite feeling that they could get something from the game.

Half Time: New Santos 0 - 2 St Lukes

The second half began the opposite to the first. Santos came out attacking and put constant pressure on the St Lukes defence. Santos got the goal they deserved around the 60 minute mark when their pressure paid off as Martin Magee headed in Stephen Copelands corner to give Santos a life line. Despite the referee giving decision after decision against them, Santos kept going plugging away and Stephen Copeland smashed the outside of the post and Kieran Seawards long range volley hit the bar.

St Lukes sole chance of the second half was a good one, as they caught Santos on the break leaving their striker one-on-one with keeper JP Byrne. Byrne blocked the shot and held up the attacker enough to allow the Santos defence to get back and clear the danger. With 5 minutes left, Santos were reduced to 10 men, after being studded down the back of his leg, David Dougan reacted stupidly and shoved the St Lukes player in the chest, with the referee sending him off, for apparently slapping the player on the face. It was another in a series of biased decisions made by the referee which overshadowed an otherwise good game of football.

Full time: New Santos 1 - 2 St Lukes

Although coming away from the match with 0 points, it was Santos' best league performance of the season in a game were they deserved at least a point. Manager Ronan Doherty will now be looking to build on the performance and to start to put some points on the board.

New Santos team:
GK - J.P. Byrne
LB - Joe Magee
CB - David Dougan
CB - Richard Scullion
RB - Paul McKillop
LM - Martin Magee (c)
CM - Darran Holland
CM - Kieran Seaward
RM - Conor Chambers
ST - Simon Magee
ST - Stephen Copeland

Goals - Martin Magee ( Stephen Copeland assist)
MOTM - Martin Magee