Cape Town - Since the 3-0 drubbing at the hands of Platinum Stars on March 13, Ajax Cape Town have remained unbeaten in their last three matches, which proves that the defence may be getting it right at last.
Yes, they have only played those three games since due to the international break and after being knocked out of the Nedbank Cup and Caf Confederations Cup, but at least it represents a halt in the slide in what has been a frustratingly inconsistent season from the Urban Warriors.
There was a miracle of some sort at the weekend when they held the mighty Kaizer Chiefs to a goalless draw at the FNB Stadium on Saturday, which was their first clean sheet since January 29, when they beat Golden Arrows 1-0 at the Cape Town Stadium.
A major reason for Ajax’s downfall this season has been their defensive mistakes, with two ridiculous own goals from back passes probably still causing coach Roger de Sa nightmares.
So the clean sheet against the Amakhosi must be celebrated, and it made Ajax goalkeeper Anssi Jaakkola wonder what might have been this season if he and the defence had performed better.
Jaakkola, who’s normally a classy shot-stopper, had two forgettable moments this year when he let in two own goals in consecutive weeks in February – one of which was from a Rivaldo Coetzee back-pass.
But the Finnish goal-minder was back to his best against Chiefs, making a number of great saves. “During the first half, I don’t think we actually came out of the changing room, but the second half we did manage to create a few chances and almost won the game. We still make too many mistakes as a team, we lose the ball too easily and when it comes to counter-attacking. In those situations, we are still too exposed and very vulnerable,” Jaakkola told the Ajax website.
“These are things that we need to get rid of because it has been costing us games the entire season, especially the ones we could have easily won. There were like five games that we conceded stupid goals and lost the ball too easily, allowing the other team to counter-attack.
“The games where we didn’t have much to worry about like Platinum Stars at home, we just seem to have this one thing about our game where we make silly mistakes. Maybe our concentration isn’t where it should be because the players seem to be accepting these mistakes game after game, it’s costing us points and it looks like it is going to cost us the top eight. It is something that we need to fix.”
De Sa’s outfit are currently 10th on the Premiership log with six matches left, which means they have 18 points to aim for. They are on 29, four behind ninth-placed Free State Stars and a further point away from Chippa United and SuperSport United, who both have 34, although all three teams have played an extra match.
So there is still hope for Ajax to claim a top-eight spot after ending fifth in the league last season, although they have a tough run-in as they take on likely champions and current log leaders Mamelodi Sundowns next week Wednesday at Athlone Stadium, and finish off their programme against second-placed Wits.
But they can certainly pick up points in the three games in between against Bloemfontein Celtic (away), and relegation-threatened Jomo Cosmos (home) and Maritzburg United (away).
@IndyCapeSport