THOHOYANDOU –Santos consolidated their position on the log by crushing Black Leopards 4-1 in their Castle Premiership League game that was played at the Thohoyandou Stadium on Saturday.

The home side soon realized that it was not their day when they conceded a silly goal in the 2nd minute. Ricardo Manneti capitalised on a clearing blunder by the sweeper of Leopards, Godfrey Ramudzuli to hook in the loose ball. The 15th minute saw the Leopards' playmaker, Vusi Kharivhe, leaving the pitch after sustaining an injury. He was replaced with Donald Mulaudzi. The absence of Kharivhe was one of the main reasons for the luck-lustre performance of Leopards.

The keeper of Leopards, Joel Masutha missed the ball in the 35th minute, resulting in Tyron Arendse releasing a ground cutter from short range. For unknown reasons, Leopards replaced their backliner, Raymond Sineo with a midfielder, Mpho Dagada towards the end of the first half.

Realizing that their scoring chances were slim, the Leopards coach, Gavin Hunt introduced Magic Ratshivhadelo for Stanley Sibeko, who was looking weary. Jonathan Solomon increased the tally 15 minutes into the last half after a poor clearing by the Leopards' defence.

The Northern Province outfit's solitary goal came in the 64th minute. Magic Ratshivhadelo blusted in after a place kick that was taken by Godfrey Ramudzuli. What could have been the second goal for Leopards, turned into frustration, as the assistant referee's flag was already up for an offside offence.

Sebastian Bux collected from Thokozani Xaba in the middle of the park to finish off superbly and scored the final goal for the game. Jonathan Solomons of Santos was named Man of the Match. He took home a cheque of R1 500 and a trophy.