League Table

Belfast & District League - Premier Division

Pos Team Pld Pts 1 Tollymore Swifts 1 3 2 Cumann Spoirt an Phobail 1 3 3 Ardoyne WMC 1 3 4 St Pauls FC 1 3 5 New Santos 1 1 6 Sport & Leisure II 1 1 7 Newington FC 0 0 8 West Belfast 0 0 9 St Matthews 1 0 10 Ligoniel FC 1 0 11 Glanville Rec 1 0 12 Willowbank FC 1 0

Belfast & District League - Division 2

Pos Team Pld Pts 1 Andersonstown FC 0 0 2 Belfast Utd FC 0 0 3 Blackieville FC 0 0 4 Glanville Rec II 0 0 5 Glenpark FC 0 0 6 New Santos II 0 0 7 Rushlight Celtic 0 0 8 St Malachys OB II 0 0 9 St Pats Shamrocks 0 0 10 St Pauls FC II 0 0

Podium4Sport

New Santos on Bebo

   NI Soccer Post Article 20/11/2008

Scanned Pages: Page 1 - Page 2

The next four weeks will make or break our season says New Santos boss Doherty

The next four weeks will determine New Santos' season, according to manager Ronan Doherty.

The Malone Road based outfit gained unexpected promotion to the Premier Division in August following a meeting with the Belfast and District League committee. Immaculata departed to the Amateur League and Sporta FC dropped to Division Two, so despite only finishing last season in fifth place in Division One, New Santos now find themselves among the elite.

The step up has so far proved a difficult one to make with the club having lost each of their opening six fixtures, yet Doherty insists its not all doom and gloom.
"We have played a lot of the top teams so far and have yet to be badly rolled over. Over the next month or so we will face teams at the lower end of the table so there will be opportunities for us to pick up a substantial amount of points.
"There is a mini-league forming at the bottom and all the teams are tightly bunched, in fact there is not a massive difference in points between bottom and third. The matches against the teams around us are going to be vital if we want to remain in the division" he said.

Dohertys side need to work on concentration and fitness and become more clinical if they want to become more competitive among the big boys.
"Saturdays match against St Lukes was a perfect example of how our season has been going. We narrowly lost but were the better team for most of the match and could have own the game just as easily. We tend to be competitive for 70minutes then our concentration seems to go.
"We also need to be more confident and not allow self doubt to creep in as easily if we concede a goal. We need to respond better to going a goal down rather than letting our heads drop and accepting we cannot win" he said.

Doherty also challenged his team to take positives from a recent 4-0 defeat at the hands of league leaders Ardoyne WMC.
"Despite the result, it was one of our better performances this season. We played well in the first half and were only 1-0 down at half time. In the second half we created five or more clear cut chances but could not put the ball in the net and ended up losing.
"We created as many chances as they did yet the difference was their ability to take chances when they came along. That is what seperates top teams from the rest of the pack. If we can work in training to improve our finishing then I am sure result will improve" he said.

As well as the unexpected promotion it has been a season of upheavel for New Santos, with Doherty forced into recruiting no less than 11 new players in the close season.
"We were established in 1996 and had a steady team for over a decade. Perhaps that has hindered us now as many of these players have retired and I have had to bring in a lot of new faces that will take time to settle in" he said.

"Promotion maybe came too soon but we will give it our all and see where it takes us. At the end of the day, we thought we were in Division One so to play in the Premier Division is a bonus."