SAINTS WON’T BE SO EASY PREY..

LANCE SHIELDS admits St Matthew’s were taught a harsh lesson in their promotion heartbreak last season – and has vowed his players won’t make the same mistake again.

The Short Strand outfit were involved in a three-way season-long battle for the prized top two spots in Division 2C with Willowbank and Nortel, and thought they’d cleared the final hurdle when they travelled down to the latter’s ground in Monkstown on the penultimate weekend and claimed a ballsy, lastgasp 2-1 win.

But a Nortel victory at

Willowbank, who had nothing to play for having already wrapped up the title, on the final day edged them out into third place and condemned them to at least one more season in the bottom tier.

Reflecting on their debut campaign in the Amateur League, Shields admits his players could scarcely have done any more, losing just twice all season, and even those came against the two promoted teams. St Matthew’s did draw a further three games, however, and Shields has identified those dropped points as the most costly.

Whether the margin for error is quite so fine this year remains to be seen, but Shields is determined to take no chances, and with four wins from four, including Saturday’s landslide 15-1 demolition of Rooftop, his team have made a rampant start.

“Hopefully we have a wee bit more experience this year,” said Shields, whose side host St Mary’s at Ashfield Boys this weekend.

“After last year, I think we know what is ahead of us and it’s a long, old road.

“Last year, we just came up against two good teams but it was the points dropped against some of the lower teams which came back to haunt us.

“That’s what we have learned because we performed well against the top teams, Willowbank beat us once and we beat them, and Nortel, we beat them and drew with them, so it really came down to losing points to middle of the road teams.

“But it’s going to be tough again and Beann Mhadaghain and Tullymore Swifts, two teams we know from the Belfast & District, have started well as well. They are two good teams.”