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League - Saturday 29th September 2007 14:00 Venue: Bangor Sportsplex

Santos off the mark

Santos took their first point in their new division with an impressive performance against high flying Bangor Rangers who have won all three of their games so far.  Santos set about their task with determination and while the team is not firing yet on all cylinders the overall performance shows that the winning mentality has not been extinguished by the ‘wishy washy’ start they have had.

The opening quarter of the game saw Santos compete for every ball and against, what was a very skilled Bangor team.  Santos dominated the quarter and thus provided the confidence boost that the manager was seeking.  The experimental up front pairings still are a cause for concern.  Michael McCullough vacating his normal midfield role to partner Paul Brady worked really hard yet his absence in midfield was acutely felt as Jonny Agnew  and Maguire were having an off day especially in their passing. 

Strangely the Santos passing on the big pitch lacked the usual neatness and thus the front men struggled to grab any initiative.   Thankfully Maguire and Walker were their usual sound selves at the centre of defence  and captain McGeehan was holding a rather disorganized midfield together.  His array of set piece ploys almost gave Santos the lead on two occasions O’Gorman hastily blasting over and Brady a half yard short, before a pinpoint corner from the skipper was bulleted home by the impressive McCormack. 

Knowing a second could be vital  Brady rippled the crossbar with a beauty from 20 yds and a tantalizing ball across the face of goal by McCullough was allowed to travel all the way without a tap in.

So Half Time saw Santos lead 1-0

The determination to carry on the second half as committed as ever while improving the passing quality was the half time decision and sure enough things were better at first but only 5 mins in, a body blow was to strike Santos.

Careless, wayward midfield pass by Murphy was picked up by Duffin who slotted in striker Spence.  “Squire” Maguire seemed to have an easy clearance but totally misread the bobble of the ball and slipped over. Spence gobbled up the gift to equalise. 

Santos were a little ragged for a while and it was then that Hughes in goal once again proved his worth.  Dominant in the air and brave in all his decisions he swept up all the Bangor attacks in what was to be their purple patch.  Seeing a few cracks emerging Manager McGeehan reacted instantly.  Re-establishing the successful midfield partnrership of McCullough and McGeehan and playing debutant Conor McCarthy up front.  At full back too, Johnny Agnew stepped back to replace the tiring O'Gorman and Ossawy coming on for Doherty at Left Back. The changes fired Santos. 

Young McCarthy in particular was outstanding, harrying and chasing defenders down.  Brady was freed to rove and was now the classy player who put fear into Div 2C defences a last season.  Yet his predatory touch deserted him on two occasions.  Again played in by McCarthy and then McCullough he blazed over when normally he would have been lethally clinical.  McCarthy continued to torment Bangor and McGeehan should have scored from inside the box from the youngster’s excellent work.

Feeling now that the second goal would win the game Bangor launched a series of raids and Santos heaved a huge sigh of relief as Dougan went over around the box only for excellent stand in referee Stevenson to award a free kick on the edge and not the feared penalty.  So a draw was just about right, though Santos were pleased at the chances made and feel that the training ground work planned might see a few more of these snapped up in the weeks to come.  So its up and running now for the new boys who entertain Temple Rangers at their Blanchflower home next Saturday. 

Man of the Match fell to the hard working Conor McCormack just ahead of young McCarthy.

Lineup
		Player	Position	Rating	Info
		Aidan Hughes	Goalkeeper
		Barry Doherty	Left Back
		Manus O'Gorman	Right Back
		Liam Maguire	Centreback
		Stephen Walker	Centreback
		Patrick Murphy	Defensive Midfielder
		Joseph McGeehan	Center Midfielder
		Johnathan Agnew	Center Midfielder
		Conor McCormack	Left Midfield
		Michael Burns	Forward
		Paul Brady	Striker

Substitutes
		Player	Position	Rating	Info
		Conor McCarthy	Striker
		John Ossawy	Left Back		replaced Doherty

Man of the Match
		Player	Notes
		Conor McCormack	Work rate and attitude brillant