Santos chalk up another fine win

2 October 2009

A 1-0 win for Santos over Mpumalanga Black Aces at the Coetzenburg Stadium on Friday night sees the on-form Cape Town side move into third place on the Absa Premiership log.

Mpumalanga Black Aces found an on-form Santos side to much to handle as they went down 1-0 at the Coetzenburg Stadium on Friday night

The early stages of the match may have been starved of goal-scoring chances, however, with both teams playing at a brisk pace there was plenty of entertainment for the sizable crowd in Stellenbosch on a beautiful Spring evening.

It was however only towards the end of the half that the game really burst to life, with the Peoples’ Team taking the initiative in attack.

In the 35 th minute an Erwin Isaacs cross came close to breaking the deadlock when it neatly caught Aces keeper Oscar Ramogadi off guard, and then in the 37 th minute, Pikolethu Spelman struck with a volley in the box – the effort looked to be on target, but clattered into an Aces defender, much to the relief of Ramogadi.

A few seconds before the half time whistle Tasleem Paulse wasted an excellent chance for Santos when he ballooned a shot over the bar from only 12-yards out.

Aces started the second half well, getting their opponents on the back foot straight after the restart.

However, the opening goal arrived at the other end of the field after Isaacs brilliantly chested down a long ball and sped goal-wards.

He was halted in his tracks by Shere Lekgothoane’s foul, which saw the Aces defender getting a straight red card.

Isaacs then picked himself up to curl a sublime free kick into the top right hand corner – 1-0 Santos after 58 minutes.

Aces however were not about to throw in the towel and they fought back hard to give Santos a couple of late scares as Setjhaba Mmuso and Tebogo Monyai both missed relatively simple headers inside the final 10 minutes.

Santos also had late chances to add to the score-line, but Isaacs and then Tawonga Chimodzi were both denied by the agility of Ramogadi.

Teams:

Santos (4-4-2): Motsoeneng; Ntloana, Gabonamong, W Arendse, Skippers; Paulse (King 54'), T Arendse (van Beulen 75'), Chimodzi, Powell (Otieno 65') ; Spelman, Isaacs

Aces (4-4-2) Ramogadi; Gilbert (October 85'), Monyai, Nobula, Lekgothoane; Machaka, Themba, Mmuso (Mthombeni 80'), Mulenga (Mtsweni 70'), Motha, Manamela