Santos tame Leopards

Kwena Mathopa scored a goal in each half to help Santos beat a struggling Black Leopards team 2-1 in their Castle Premiership match at a windy Athlone Stadium on Wednesday night.

Santos, who are familiar with the windy conditions in Cape Town, dominated the match from the first whistle.

The 'People's Team' almost took the lead in as early as the second minute when Musa Otieno connected with Maraawan Bantam's free-kick, but his header hit the cross-bar.

Tomrick October then pulled off a good save from Leopards goalkeeper Mashudu Mamphitha.

Santos finally took the lead through Mathopa in the 13th minute. This was Mathopa's second goal in successive matches.

Leopards tried hard to find the equaliser, but their strikers find it hard to crack the strong Santos defence - leaving the score at 1-0 in favour of Santos at half-time.

'Lidoda Duvha' started the second half the better side and it came as no surprise when they found the equaliser in the 65th minute through Walter Ramulondi.

The ultra-competitive Mathopa, however, completed his brace five minutes later to put Santos in the lead once again.

Erwin Isaacs nearly added a third goal for Santos in the 78th minute, but his shot went narrowly past the upright, much to the dismay of coach Roger de Sa.

Jabu Maluleke almost stole a point for Leopards in the dying minutes of the match when he sent a powerful shot towards Santos' goals, but his shot was tipped over the bar by Santos 'keeper Wayne Roberts and Santos clung onto their slender lead until the referee blew his final whistle.