Magheraveely’s Joe Williamson celebrates his goal against Santos.
Magheraveely 1
Enniskillen Santos 2
Enniskillen Santos left it very late to grab the winning goal in this fixture played on the 3G at the Lakeland Forum as William Gott headed a 90th minute winner.
The goal keeps Santos on top of the table with maximum points alongside Irvinestown, the two sides meet at the Forum this weekend in what is sure to be an intriguing encounter.
Magheraveely had worked hard to contain Santos over the course of the tie and had got themselves in front with a stunning strike from Joseph Williamson early in the second half. Santos however kept working away and would net two late goals. Santos manager Joe Keenan stated “It was our best performance of the season even though it took late goals to get the victory, we played some great football throughout. Nicky Dunbar and Richard Johnston were excellent at the back while Paul Crane ran things in midfield and Conor Tummon was a threat down the left all day.”
Santos made a bright opening and had two good chances to open the scoring, Stephen Clarke had an effort cleared off the line while Colin Murray fired narrowly wide when well placed.
Magheraveely were battling well and had a resilience about themselves however they failed to really test stand-in keeper Ciaran Beacom during the first 45minutes.
The hosts had a good spell early in the second period and took the lead on 56minutes, a wonderful long range effort from Williamson giving Beacom no chance between the sticks.
Santos continued pressing for the equaliser and with 15 minutes to play Keenan made a bold decision to take off a full back and go to a 3-4-3 formation. Conor Tummon continued to marauding down the wing firing over some excellent crosses but to no avail.
Santos would eventually level eight minutes from time when a Tummon shot was handled in the area, Magheraveely protested but Christopher Keenan fired home the spot kick for 1-1.
Despite another handball appeal, the ref saying no on this occasion, Santos searched for a winner which did arrived in the final minutes. A right wing cross was flicked on by Murray for William Gott to stoop low to head over the line.
It was a cruel way for Magheraveely to be lose having put so much into the tie. This weekend they face Maguiresbridge which Santos and Irvinestown go head to head in a mouth-watering encounter.
