IF Gambian international goalkeeper Pa Dembo Touray’s South African ABSA Premier Soccer League side, Santos could play Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates every week, they would in all likelihood win the league title every season.

After thrashing the Buccaneers 3-0 last month, the People’s Team put their recent slump behind them to topple the mighty Amakhosi 2-1 at the Athlone Stadium on Sunday. But Santos are playing in a 16-team league and are fighting to stay in the Premiership. However, the win over Chiefs in new coach Mart Nooij’s first game in charge could just be the spark they need in their bid to get away from the relegation zone.

Two quick-fire goals by Salmaan King and Eleazar Rodgers knocked the wind out of the Amakhosi just after halftime. Substitute George Lebese profited from a mistake by Santos later in the second half, but the People’s Team’s defence stood firm at the end. “We survived a storm at the beginning and at the end of the match,” Nooij said afterwards. “We needed some luck, and we scored some wonderful goals. We gave them a silly goal.”

It was thought that their win over Pirates on March 14 would galvanise Santos, but what followed was six desperately flat performances without a single win. So, it would be silly to suggest that Santos are now going to march up the log, but if they can match Sunday’s performance, which was characterised by a bit more guts and desperation, they could easily stay up.

Santos also got some assistance from the side that knocked them out of the Nedbank Cup, as AmaZulu hammered Black Leopards 4-1 yesterday in Giyani. The 15th-placed Santos are now just a point behind Leopards.

Chiefs look like a team with no direction at the moment after firing coach Vladimir Vermezovic, and while they had a few great chances to take something out of this game, they don’t seem to be the side who made opposition teams shake in their boots anymore.