North West Counties League

Division One South

St Martins 3

Alsager Town 2

IT WAS an entertaining end to the season for St Martins supporters at Park Hall Stadium with five goals shared between their side and the visiting Alsager Town.

The hosts left it late to score the deciding goal after being behind in the first half.

A victory for the Saints means they finish just outside of the top 10, a point behind Stockport Town.

Declan Arber bagged two goals in the first half to give St Martins a mountain to climb to put themselves ahead.

However, a goal before the break and two goals in quick succession in the final 15 minutes of the second half proved to be enough to turn the scoreline on its head and give St Martins the victory.

A great chance for the Saints early on fell to Jamie Hands after a matter of minutes.

Brendon Price and Tawanda Melusi worked the ball up the pitch well and eventually played the ball to Hands whose effort was sent over the crossbar.

Chances were hard to come by for the Saints after Hands’ effort and it was not until half an hour of play that the game had its first goal.

Unfortunately for the hosts, it was Alsager who found the net on the 30th minute through Arber.

With the Saints pushing high up the field in search of an equaliser, they conceded a second goal through Arber again after 37 minutes.

After losing the ball in a dangerous position, Alsager broke forward eventually finding Arber who got his second of the afternoon.

There was some respite for St Martins before the break when top scorer Karl Bailey latched onto Melusi’s pass before firing into the net to reduce the deficit.

After half-time, St Martins went looking for an equaliser, but the visiting defence stood strong for some time.

Hands came close to grabbing his second from a free kick but the goalkeeper got down well to save.

With 13 minutes left to play, Stuart Dickin was the man to pull the Saints level with a strong headed effort from a corner finding the net after clipping the crossbar.

St Martins secured the three points with a few minutes remaining when Melusi played another defence-splitting pass, this time towards Price, who had his first effort rebounded into his path which he then fired home to make it 3-2.