Football in the Mother City is riding the wave of a spectacular surge of victories over the last few weeks. Enough has been said about Cape Town City’s nine-game unbeaten run (eight wins and a draw), now Ajax Cape Town have followed suit by registering three wins on the trot.
Ajax had a nightmare start to the season, in which they couldn’t buy a win in their first nine games, and found themselves anchored to the basement of the PSL standings. Now, after three successive wins - 3-2 against Platinum Stars, 2-0 over African champions Mamelodi Sundowns and Saturday’s 1-0 success against Golden Arrows - the Cape side is now in a respectable 10th position on the log.
New Ajax coach Stanley Menzo has, most certainly, made his presence felt and the players have responded by finally doing justice to their enormous potential.
They struggled against Arrows on Saturday night, though. The Durban team wasn’t in the mood to play football; they had come with the intention of stealing a point and the on-field action reflected their negativity.
“Arrows made it difficult,” said Menzo.
“They kept things very tight and, unlike against Sundowns, it wasn’t an open game. They were just waiting for the moment to counter You cannot blame them, I’m sure I would play that way too, if I have to."
"When teams play that way, it’s up to us to create chances, to find the free man and open them up. Unfortunately, we couldn’t But, in football, one moment can change a match, and luckily, it happened for us.”
That “one moment” was when an Arrows defender handled the ball and Ajax were awarded a penalty five minutes before the end. Substitute Nathan Paulse stepped up - his first effort was saved by the goalkeeper, but he managed to tuck in the rebound.
“We are in a good way at the moment,” said Menzo.
“It shows that the players have been working very hard and they are starting to believe they can win. It’s about discipline and organisation and, while things may not have been perfect against Arrows, it will come. The most important thing, and it showed again in Saturday’s match, is that if you don’t concede you are always going to get chances to score.”
After a punishing schedule over the last few weeks, the Urban Warriors now have a week off as the focus shifts to Saturday’s Telkom Knockout final. Menzo, though, stressed that rest was just as important as training, and he is giving the players two days off before preparing for next week’s PSL fixture away to Highlands Park on December 14.