Soccer
Swallows run riot
2009-03-22 19:41
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Swallows coach Julio Cesar Leal (Gallo Images)
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Johannesburg - There was precious little peace for third division amateur club Peace Lovers as they slumped to a 4-0 defeat against Moroka Swallows in what ultimately proved a one-sided Nedbank Cup encounter at a sparsely-filled Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane on Sunday evening.
But although the game which earned for The Birds a place in the Cup's quarter-finals ultimately evolved into little more than an exhibition outing for the Premier League club, the opening 38 minutes was anything but a walk in the park for Swallows as they stuttered and stumbled to gain a breakthrough against gallant opposition.
The opening headed goal from Mark Haskins in the 38th minute following a precise cross from Sandile Ndlovu changed all that as Swallows launched a scoring spree of three goals within the space of 10 minutes.
The lethal trio of Haskins, Ndlovu and Cecil Oerson tormented the Peace Lovers defence, with Ndlovu making the score 2-0 with a header of his own and Haskins completing a brace of goals and Oerson making it four with aplomb and panache in the 59th minute.
Swallows appeared to take their foot off the pedal at this point and coach Julio Cesar Leal took the opportunity of introducing several of his promising young players into the action for some valuable experience.
But the job at hand had already been completed for The Birds, who, in the process, gained a soothing morale-booster after an alarming sequence of defeats had resulted in them sliding down the Premier League log table.
Peace Lovers, for their part, will gain satisfaction from reaching the last 16 in the PSL's premier cup competition, with motivation provided to move up to the professional ranks in the future.
Swallows, however, finished the predictable game with a flurry and the industrious Oerson, who had earlier also struck the crossbar with a thunderous 25-metre drive, came desperately close to scoring a second goal and what would have been The Birds' fifth in the 88th minute.