New Santos vs Portstewart Olympic
New Santos' poor start to the season continued in the Junior Cup on Saturday.
With 10 players injured and 3 on holiday, the squad was stretched to it's bare bones and, in Pol Douglas and Brian Caldwell, included 2 players who, for injury reasons, had expected to be merely spectators.
Due to this lack of personnel the decision was made to pack the midfield and play a 4 - 5 - 1 formation.
Santos' injury problems were further compounded, when CB Joe Magee had to come off with an injured ankle within the first 10 minutes and was replaced by, the already injured, Brian Caldwell.
Despite these problems New Santos managed to take the lead, against the run of play it must be said, when Simon Magee released Patty O'Reilly down the right flank and O'Reilly finished well across the keeper.
A dismal 15 minutes then saw Santos go 4 - 1 down, as the unfamiliar system and personel left the back 4 exposed time and again, as well as losing O'Reilly to a groin injury. All credit to Portstewart Olympic though, who took their chances well and played some good football.
Pol Douglas was introduced for O'Reilly and, in a reshuffle which saw Captain Martin Magee move to CB and Paul McKillop pushed into the midfield, New Santos reverted to a more familiar 4 4 2.
The reshuffle seemed to calm the player's nerves and they went in at half time desperate to change the face of the match.
Half Time - New Santos 1 - 4 Portstewart Olympic
New Santos came out fast in the second half, determined to salvage some pride and Portstewart immediately knew they were in for a different match. At the back, Brian Caldwell was dominating the Portstewart strikers in the air and David Harrigan and Paul McKillop began to develop an understanding in CM. The pace of Simon Magee and Stephen Copeland coupled with the guile and strength of Douglas posed many problems for Portstewart, but New Santos failed to convert their chances. With around 20 minutes left, having kept Portstewart on the back foot for most of the half, New Santos decided to move Martin Magee up front and the 3 pronged attack seemed too much for the Olympic backline to handle.
After several minutes of sustained pressure, New Santos pulled 1 back when Douglas met Copeland's cross from the right and his header crept into the far bottom corner. 15 minutes left and, with the pressure they were exerting, Santos began to feel they could at least take this game to extra time. A few minutes later it was 4 - 3 when Martin Magee finished after another great ball from Copeland. With 10 minutes to go Santos piled on the pressure, but despite carving out several good chances, they just couldn't find the equalizer and Olympic held on to reach the next round.
Full Time New Santos 3 - 4 Portstewart
Starting XI:
GK - JP Byrne
LB - Kevin Carson
CB - Paul McKillop
CB - Joe Magee ( Brian Caldwell )
RB - Chris Monan
LM - Stephen Copeland
CM - Martin Magee
CM - Conor Chambers
CM - David Harrigan
RM - Patty O'Reilly ( Pol Douglas )
ST - Simon Magee
New Santos Goals - Paddy O'Reilly ( Simon Magee assist ), Pol Douglas ( Stephen Copeland assist ), Martin Magee ( Stephen Copeland assist )
New Santos MOTM - David Harrigan
