Santa Grabs Himself A Double

as seen on au.fourfourtwo.com

Brendon Santalab scored two dramatic second-half goals to inspire Chengdu Blades to a 2-1 away triumph at Guangzhou Pharmaceutical in the Chinese Super League overnight.

The former Sydney FC and North Queensland Fury man struck on 74 and 85 minutes after the hosts had taken the lead courtesy of Luis Ramirez's 64th minute penalty.

With just over a quarter of an hour to go, Chengdu were on the right side of an awful decision by the referee, awarding the Blades a penalty for handball.

And Santalab was the man to step up and put away the spotkick, coolly lobbing the ball down the middle with the keeper diving to his right.

Ten minutes later, Santalab did it again after a long throw fell kindly for the Australian who produced a brilliant volleyed finish into the corner of the net.

For Santalab, who only played his first game for Chengdu in August, his pair of goals takes him to five for the club.

The result takes Chengdu further away from relegation zone, as they move up to 12th some 7 points clear of second-last Shenzhen.

Elsewhere, Mark Milligan's Shanghai Shenhua lost 2-1 at Qingdao Jonoon and now slip to ninth, while Joel & Ryan Griffiths' Beijing Guoan lost 2-0 to Changchun Yatai on Tuesday which dents their title hopes.