South Africa win at last

South Africa coach Joel Santana is checking out local players

World Cup hosts South Africa ended a run of five matches without a win when they beat Malawi 3-0 in a friendly on Tuesday.

An experimental side, made up of home-based players, provided relief for beleaguered coach Joel Santana.

The match at Germiston in Johannesburg was also match designed to give the Brazilian coach a further opportunity to look at local players.

Bernard Parker opened the scoring with a header from a corner in the 32nd minute and added a second 10 minutes from time.

Substitute Daine Klate scored the third goal at the end of the game.

South Africa have put together an extensive programme of friendly matches as they build a team for their hosting of the 2010 World Cup finals.

Their poor run of results saw them eliminated from the qualifying campaign for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations in Angola.