Lisbellaw United continued to keep the pressure on table toppers Strathroy Harps with a 3-0 win over Ennniskillen Santos on Saturday at Drumad .

Andy Reilly’s side remain two points adrift of Strathroy having played a game more but with the two sides still to play twice in the league it is all still to play for over the remainder of the campaign.

For Santos though it is all about the other end of the table and they are deep in the relegation battle as the season reaches a conclusion. Joe Keenan’s charges are one point ahead of second from bottom Strule United but have played three games more and with only three games left they are in a perilous position in the table.

Santos battled hard over the course of the game on Saturday but a couple of mistakes by stand in goalkeeper Christopher Hannon and a good strike from Tiarnan Magee secured the points for the home outfit.

Despite the defeat on Saturday, Keenan will have taken encouragement by the effort and work rate of his side although he only had 11 available players on the day.

“We had the bare 11 and no subs but I thought we did well and I couldn’t fault the boys for their effort. Christopher Hannon made two mistakes but he is a stand in goalkeeper and I would be in no way critical of him. I would be happier with that performance and hopefully we can now go on and take that into the last three games of the season,” said Keenan.

Santos set their stall out to keep things tight from the outset and frustrate Lisbellaw and on the whole it worked over the opening half an hour although Lisbellaw did have a couple of chances that they failed to convert while Magee was unlucky not to score with a well struck volley from 12 yards that was just over the bar.

However, with 35 minutes on the clock the home side took the lead as a Ryan Nelson free kick from the left was spilled into the net by Hannon in the Santos goal.

The visitors though had a chance to hit back minutes later as Seamie Quigley was put straight through on goal but goalkeeper Willie McFrederick saved with his legs to deny the Santos striker.

And straight from this Lisbellaw went down the other end of the pitch to double their advantage, Magee this time finding the back of the net with a thumping effort that was a real hammer blow to Santos on the stroke of half time.

Two goals down, it was always going to be an uphill battle for Santos but they continued to battle and Willie Gott had a goal disallowed.

In fairness, Lisbellaw had chances to put the game to bed with Sam Lindsay missing on a couple of occasions when well placed.

However, a third goal did arrive near the end as Hannon failed to pick up Joe Keenan’s back header and in the scramble that ensued he fumbled the ball over the line to leave it 3-0 at the finish.