Melton Williams, Staff ReporterCARLTON 'Spanna' Dennis, coach of Santos, looks set to read the riot act to his players after the team suffered a disappointing 3-1 defeat at the hands of long-time rivals Boys' Town in yesterday's first leg Wray and Nephew/KSAFA Major League final at Constant Spring.
"We didn't train, we had a poor week of training and that contributed to our defeat," said Dennis, who is on a mission to take Santos to next season's National A League after the team failed at the final hurdle in 2000 and 2001.
Dennis is unaware of the reasons why his players failed to show at training but suggested that "the players might feel that they have won the Major League already."
For much of the game, Santos looked very lethargic in their approach and after 38 minutes trailed 0-3.
Santos found themselves in early trouble after five minutes when Vaughn Richards handled the ball inside the box and Marvin Morgan made no mistake from the spot.
It was all Boys' Town after as Santos' defence caved in and gave up two goals inside two minutes. Firstly, goalkeeper Andrew Sewell gave up a soft goal allowing a 20-yard shot from Troy Dawes to get through his feet in the 36th minute; and then in the 38th minute he failed to hold a cross from Fitzroy Anglin allowing Michael Campbell to head home.
Santos pulled back a late goal from the penalty spot through striker Fabian Nethersole after the ball was handled.
While the first half belonged to Boys' Town who played a very fast pace game, it was Santos who looked the better team in the second half.
This was due largely to them abandoning their long pass game which proved ineffective in the first half for their customary short passes, with Kingston College schoolboy Richard West and Nethersole creating a few half chances.
In the first game at the venue, University of the West Indies (UWI) defeated Rae Town 2-1 in the Syd Bartlett first leg. Marlon Hibbert (44th minute) and Kadir Manning (89th minute) were on target for UWI, while Kiran Bryan (56th minute) scored for Rae Town.
