Magheraveely 4-1 Castlederg United

Andrew Little scored a hat-trick as Magheraveely defeated Castlederg United 4-1 last Saturday at the Peace Link Centre.

It moves Lewis Bennett’s side up to third in the league table as they continue to hunt an immediate return to the Mercer League.

Speaking on his side’s performance, Bennett said: “We were very, very impressive. We showed the most fight we have shown all season.

"Kept the ball for long periods, pressed fast and won the ball high up the pitch. It’s great to also have a new man on board on the management team, ex-UCD and Finn Harps player Gerard O’Callaghan.”

The home side made a bright start to Saturday’s game in Clones, holding a lot of early possession and it would take just seven minutes for them to find their opening goal.

Good work from Adam Dudgeon saw him makes yards into the attacking third before he found Dean Carroll who lifted his head on the edge of the box and fired a shot into the bottom corner of the net to make it 1-0.

The hosts enjoyed the larger share of possession throughout the first-half but Castlederg did threaten on the break Dylan Russell having a couple of shots at goal.

A Magheraveely corner saw the swung in and cleared but it came back into the danger zone and dropped for Little who turned and fired in a second goal, ten minutes before the interval.

Eight minutes after the restart, Magheraveely put themselves well in control with a third goal, and Little’s second.

Joseph Williamson took a touch in the centre of the park before lofting a ball over the top of the United back four for Little to run onto and volley past goalkeeper Glen Kennedy.

Castlederg had their spells of threatening play in the second half and they made one count with just over 20 minutes to go as Jake McHugh finished off a flowing move.

However, Magheraveely wrapped up the win late on as Little converted a free kick on the edge of the box to seal his hat-trick.