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Dobsonville - Relegation candidates Santos were compounded to more misery as they were downed 3-2 by a David Mathebula-inspired Moroka Swallows at Dobsonville Stadium on Wednesday night.
Mathebula, Siyabonga Nomvethe and Bennett Chenene all scored for the Birds as they won 3-2 regardless of the efforts of Bonginkosi Macala and Vuyisile Wana, who netted for the People’s Team
Swallows showed some early form when they got a corner kick in the sixth minute. The Santos defence could not control the ball as it kindly fell to David Mathebula who latched onto a rebound ball from the edge of the penalty area and curled a shot beyond Santos goalkeeper Thembalethu Moses to put the Birds 1-0 in front.
Santos immediately searched for the equaliser and eventually found it in the 15th minute when Bonginkosi Macala forced his way through the defence and shot beyond Swallows’ Greg Etafia who had not been troubled prior to the goal.
The match was definitely in the Birds’ favour and they soon prevailed. They received a penalty in the 25th minute when a Santos defender was a judged to have handled the ball in the box and Siyabonga Nomvethe calmly slotted the ball in beyond Moses.
Five minutes before the break, Santos nearly found the equaliser when Erwin Isaacs forced Etafia to make a brilliant save to deny his curling effort from the 25-yards out.
The Dube Birds were playing like possessed men, and a minute before the break Nomvethe again outpaced the Santos defence and broke down the right wing before sending in a quality cross which was spectacularly scored by Bennett Chenene.
It was 3-1 at half time with Swallows’ troubling the Santos defence and looking like scoring every time they surged forward.
In the 54th minute the Birds were soon in full flight again when Mathebula hit a low shot which looked goal-bound until Moses parried it away for a corner.
Santos’ first real chance after the break came in 60th minute when Siyabulela Songwiqi skilfully beat a few Swallows defenders as he made his way into the box from the left wing but shot tamely at Etafia.
With seven minutes to go Nomvethe nearly condemned the Cape outfit to more misery when he dispossessed an erratic Moses but failed to control the ball as he miscued his effort with an open net starring at him.
At the other end Santos were pushing for a consolation goal, Eleazar Rodgers forced Etafia to tip his long range effort over the bar but from the resultant corner Vuyisile Wana capitalised from a goal-mouth scramble to score in the 91st minute.
That was to be it for Santos as they had little time to claw their way back into the match. The loss will add more pressure to their league survival quest.
Scorers:
Moroka Swallows (3) 3 Mathebula 7’, Nomvethe pen 25’, Chenene 44’)
Santos (1) 2 (Macala 15’, Wana 90+1’)
Teams:
Swallows: Etafia; Mapemba, Hendriks, Nergardze, Mayinga, Tsutsulupa, Twala (Sibiya 57’) , Makhanya, Mathebula, Chenene (Chabangu 66’) Nomvethe
Santos: Moses; W. Arendse, Morris, Isaacs, Macala (Schalkwyk 81’), Chimodze (Basie 52’), T. Arendse, Pattison, Songwiqi, Powell, Rodgers
Mathebula, Siyabonga Nomvethe and Bennett Chenene all scored for the Birds as they won 3-2 regardless of the efforts of Bonginkosi Macala and Vuyisile Wana, who netted for the People’s Team
Swallows showed some early form when they got a corner kick in the sixth minute. The Santos defence could not control the ball as it kindly fell to David Mathebula who latched onto a rebound ball from the edge of the penalty area and curled a shot beyond Santos goalkeeper Thembalethu Moses to put the Birds 1-0 in front.
Santos immediately searched for the equaliser and eventually found it in the 15th minute when Bonginkosi Macala forced his way through the defence and shot beyond Swallows’ Greg Etafia who had not been troubled prior to the goal.
The match was definitely in the Birds’ favour and they soon prevailed. They received a penalty in the 25th minute when a Santos defender was a judged to have handled the ball in the box and Siyabonga Nomvethe calmly slotted the ball in beyond Moses.
Five minutes before the break, Santos nearly found the equaliser when Erwin Isaacs forced Etafia to make a brilliant save to deny his curling effort from the 25-yards out.
The Dube Birds were playing like possessed men, and a minute before the break Nomvethe again outpaced the Santos defence and broke down the right wing before sending in a quality cross which was spectacularly scored by Bennett Chenene.
It was 3-1 at half time with Swallows’ troubling the Santos defence and looking like scoring every time they surged forward.
In the 54th minute the Birds were soon in full flight again when Mathebula hit a low shot which looked goal-bound until Moses parried it away for a corner.
Santos’ first real chance after the break came in 60th minute when Siyabulela Songwiqi skilfully beat a few Swallows defenders as he made his way into the box from the left wing but shot tamely at Etafia.
With seven minutes to go Nomvethe nearly condemned the Cape outfit to more misery when he dispossessed an erratic Moses but failed to control the ball as he miscued his effort with an open net starring at him.
At the other end Santos were pushing for a consolation goal, Eleazar Rodgers forced Etafia to tip his long range effort over the bar but from the resultant corner Vuyisile Wana capitalised from a goal-mouth scramble to score in the 91st minute.
That was to be it for Santos as they had little time to claw their way back into the match. The loss will add more pressure to their league survival quest.
Scorers:
Moroka Swallows (3) 3 Mathebula 7’, Nomvethe pen 25’, Chenene 44’)
Santos (1) 2 (Macala 15’, Wana 90+1’)
Teams:
Swallows: Etafia; Mapemba, Hendriks, Nergardze, Mayinga, Tsutsulupa, Twala (Sibiya 57’) , Makhanya, Mathebula, Chenene (Chabangu 66’) Nomvethe
Santos: Moses; W. Arendse, Morris, Isaacs, Macala (Schalkwyk 81’), Chimodze (Basie 52’), T. Arendse, Pattison, Songwiqi, Powell, Rodgers
