Santos snatch a draw in ill-tempered battle

SANTOS moved two places clear of the NFD relegation zone yesterday thanks to a valuable 1-1 draw against promotion-chasers Royal Eagles at Athlone Stadium.

The hosts had more than one opportunity to steal victory in the match, and held a numerical advantage for the last 30 minutes, but instead played to their fourth consecutive draw.

Eagles took a well-deserved lead just seven minutes after kick-off thanks to some enterprising play from their forwards.

Sydwyn George, a hattrick scorer in Wednesday’s 4-1 win over FC Cape Town, cut in from the left wing and chipped a pass through to Sandile Kubeka, who volleyed in from close range.

The hosts went on to level the scores in the 24th minute when Shaun Sopio crossed from deep on the right flank and Renaldo Jonkers arrived at the far post to volley home.

They nearly took the lead seven minutes later when Ashley Hartog drew a full length save from Eagles’ goalkeeper Joslain Mayebi, with glanced header at a corner.

The second half brought no further clear-cut chances and the match became gradually ill-tempered.

The most notable incident came in the 61st minute, when Samuel Manganyi received what the referee deemed his second bookable offence.

The incident drew fervent protest from the Eagles bench, who claimed Manganyi had not yet been booked.

Eagles refused to sit back and just defend despite being a man down, but neither side was able to score.

Meanwhile, Stellenbosch FC tightened their grip on second place when they fought back from 2-0 down to beat Black Leopards 3-2 at Thohoyandou Stadium.

In results from Saturday’s fixtures, Milano United beat basement dwellers Magesi FC 1-0 to climb further away from the relegation zone and FC Cape Town beat Cape Town All Stars 2-1 to avoid a fourth consecutive loss.