SANTOS EARN AWAY POINT IN PRETORIA



14 February 2010

Santos played a large part of the second half against Mamelodi Sundowns with only 10 men, doing well to come away with a 0-0 Absa Premiership draw at the Super Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Overall it was certainly Santos who had the better chances in the first half, with Erwin Isaacs, at his lively best, giving the Sundowns defence all kinds of problems.

At the back the defence did superbly to keep out Downs, with Wayne Arendse in particular standing out for his man-marking job on the dangerous Katlego Mphela.

The first real action however came in the Santos box when Tshepo Motsoeneng did superbly to move quickly off his line to block Katlego Mphela’s 10 th minute shot.

But in the process the Santos goal minder suffered an injury and had to be replaced by Lee Langeveldt.

Santos’ first chance came when Isaacs’ pace took him through on goal but his attempted lob was blocked by Downs keeper Brian Baloyi.

And the Cape side were unlucky not to go in front midway through the stanza when Eleazar Rodgers netted, but then found the off-side flag had gone up for what must have been a very marginal decision.

Isaacs turned provider when he beat Innocent Mdledle with a blistering burst of pace to set up Rodgers, but Baloyi was able to get to the ball just before the Santos striker could get a touch.

Second half action was tightly-contested and the Peoples’ Team suffered a set back when substitute Bongi Macala was given a straight red card in the 64th minute for what was adjudged and over-the-top challenge.

As the game moved towards the final 15 minutes, Santos found themselves increasingly under pressure, yet they were very unlucky not to go ahead in the 80 th minute when Mogogi Gabonamong sthundered a left-footed drive from 25-yards into the upright.

Sundowns were soon back in the attack, but Siboniso Gaxa headed over the bar and Esrom Nyandoro and Bennedict Vilakazi miscued their shots as Santos held on for the point.

TEAMS

Sundowns: Baloyi – Booth, Gaxa, Xulu, Mdledle, Cale (Moriri 46’), L Mokoena (Vilakazi 75’), Nyandoro, Pattison (Chabangu 83’), Pelembe, Mphela

Santos: Motsoeneng (Langevelt 16’) – W Arendse, Gabonamong, Ntloana, Skippers, Otieno, Isaacs, King, Van Beulen, Scott (Mcala 57’), Rodgers (Powell 69’)

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