Rustenburg - It looked like Santos were still on holiday after returning to action after a two week international break when they were thumped 4-1 by Platinum Stars in an Absa Premiership match played at the  Moruleng Stadium in Rustenburg on Saturday afternoon.
 
The side form Cape Town were completely outclassed from the first whistle and were never really in the game, but only have themselves to blame. The People’s Team saw plenty of the ball throughout the match, but they couldn’t find their rhythm and their passing in the final third was extremely poor.
 
Platinum Stars, on the other hand, looked a side refreshed and ready to go, and they made their intentions clear from the word go with their eager attacking style of football.
 
The first half, though, despite Stars superiority in attack, only saw the home side score one goal in the first half, but that was largely due to Thsepo Motsoeneng’s brilliance in the Santos goal.
 
The first real chance of the match came in the 21st minute when Elias Ngwepe attacked down the right flank and supplied a cross into the box that Lebo Ramolesa was able to get onto the end of, but he fired his shot straight at the keeper from only a couple yards out.
 
A minute later and Motsoeneng was called into action again, this time producing a fantastic save diving low to his left to palm a Thebakang 20-yard shot around the post for a corner.
 
From the resulting corner, a goal mouth scramble took place and the ball fell to Sibusiso Msomi on the edge of the box and he also fired goalwards, but another acrobatic save from the keeper denied him.
 
Finally, in the 29th minute Stars made their pressure pay off after a sublime ball into the box by Vuyo Mere was brilliantly brought under control by Henrico Botes and he calmly slipped it past the sprawling keeper form six-yards out to give his side the lead, 1-0.
 
For the People’s Team, they would not have been happy with their first half performance as they saw more of the ball possession, but were unable to create any decent chances on goal.
 
Going into the half time break, only a goal down, Boebie Solomons’ team would have been especially thankful to their keeper who kept them in the game with a number of phenomenal saves.
 
The second half, however, saw Solomon’s team implode as they conceded three goals, one coming in the first minute of the second half.
 
This time Botes turned provider when he proved a great pass to Ruben Thebakang in space ten yards out from goal and he was more than happy to bury the ball past the keeper, 2-0.
 
Six minutes later, though, and Santos were able to pull one back thanks to a fantastic long range goal from Erwin Issacs which found the top left-hand corner of the net, 2-1.
 
Still, Santos could not stop the Stars machine who marched on. But the home side’s third goal was a result of Santos’ own undoing as Ricardo Skippers found the back of his own net.
 
Thebakang knocked a long ball forward and without any threat of danger Skippers tried to head the ball back to his keeper who was miles off his goalline and saw the ball go over his head, 3-1.
 
In the 65th minute Botes put the result beyond doubt when he scored his second of the game. Thuso Phala created the goal with a great individual run down the left flank where he beat two defenders before supplying a pin point pass to an unmarked Botes who side-footed the ball home from six-yards out, 4-1.
 
That was enough to guarantee victory as Stars took home all three points.