Another Double For Hot Shot Santalab

as seen on au.fourfourtwo.com

Brendon Santalab has maintained his brilliant form in China's Super League by scoring a double in Chengdu's 2-2 draw at Hangzhou on Saturday night.

The 27-year-old Australian's brace means he has scored in four consecutive Super League matches now and takes his personal tally to eight since joining the Blades in early August.

Santalab's first came after Hangzhou had taken an early lead when Brazilian forward Erivaldo tapped in from close-range.

But on 19 minutes, Chengdu were awarded a controversial penalty which Santalab stepped up to convert despite the goalkeeper getting his hand to the shot.

And only a few minutes into the second-half Santalab doubled his tally with an exquisite solo goal where he took on the Hangzhou defence before sliding a neat shot in.

But Erivaldo levelled the scores with a 66th minute header, before Chengdu went close late on to winning the game with an effort hitting the crossbar.

Chengdu, though, are now 12th and well clear of the drop zone.

Elsewhere in the CSL, Joel and Ryan Griffiths' Beijing Guoan went top of the table with a 1-0 win at Qingdao Jonoon. Guoan's closest rivals at the top, Henan Construction, face Mark Milligan's Shanghai Shenhua today.

Elsewhere in Asia, in Japan's J.League, Joshua Kennedy scored again as Nagoya Grampus thumped league leaders Kashima Antlers 4-1.

The Antlers have now lost 3 matches consecutively and got off to a poor start when Kennedy reacted quickly to a rebound to score on 7 minutes.

Igor Burzanovic added another before the break and Kashima's frustration led to Kennedy receiving some extra attention with plenty of tackles flying in on the Australian.

And it served to anger the mild-mannered Socceroo, who was involved in a controversial incident which saw Kashima's Daiki Iwamasa fall to the ground with claims Kennedy had elbowed him.

Nagoya boss Dragan Stojkovic opted to substitute the Australian at the break to ease the tension and it didn't hurt Grampus, who went onto to win resoundingly.

Elsewhere in the J.League, Eddy Bosnar wasn't in the JEF United side which lost 2-1 at home to fellow battlers Montedio Yamagata. The result is significant for United, who are in deep relegation trouble, as they are now 7 points behind 15th-placed Montedio.

Finally in Korea's K-League, Sasa Ognenovski played a full game as Seongnam Ilhwa lost 2-0 at Chunnam Dragons.