Santos FC brushed aside Buxton United 2-0 in their round of 16 fixture when the Georgetown Football Association (GFA)/Banks Beer Knockout Cup competition continued at the Tucville Community ground Monday night.
The high expectations of the encounter failed to materialize as the East Coast side and current Kashif and Shanghai champions hardly threatened the Santos shot stopper Richard Reynolds between the upright.
Brought in as a guest player for the event, the ‘Dutch Connection’ Christof Wensley opened the scoring for Santos in the 18th minute through a spectacular finish.
Waiting inside the penalty area in anticipation of a cross, the lanky Surinamese forward would latch onto the perfectly placed left sided cross by Ryan Seals, smashing home his overhead first time left footed strike into the back of the net.
Wensley almost doubled Santos’s lead in the 27th minute only to be denied by the right upright from inside the six yard box following a goal mouth scramble.
The offensive struggles would continue for the East Coast side in the second period as they failed to register a clear cut opportunity on target. Looking like the side more likely to get a goal, Santos would seal their berth to the final eight through a 63rd minute own goal.
Attempting to defend a right sided cross inside the penalty area, the Buxton backline would be inadvertently breached as the flat right sided cross was deflected into the bottom of the net.
Victorious coach Dwain Babb during an invited comment said:”It was a tough game based on the weather. We played not to the best of our abilities but enough to pull off the win. Discipline wise we were lacking a little.”
With the win, Santos will now await the winner of the Camptown and Winners Connections matchup in the quarterfinal round. Beterverwagting (BV)/Triumph United booked their quarterfinals berth, defeating Northern Rangers 3-2 in the opening matchup of the night.
