By JOHN GOLIATH
IF Jomo Cosmos stay in the Premiership, it will not be because of their gameplan, skill or even determination, it will be solely because of goalkeeper and captain Avril Phali's ability to save a football from close range.
At Athlone Stadium last night, Phali was at his irritating best (for his opponents), but even he couldn't deny Ajax Cape Town maximum points as the home team scored a well-deserved 1-0 victory over their bottom-of-the-log visitors.
The Cosmos skipper saved almost everything that came at him, but he couldn't keep out a deflected effort from Botswana international Dipsy Selolwane nine minutes from time.
Jomo Sono's side are still at the bottom of the standings, three points behind 15th-placed Mpumalanga Black Aces. What makes matters worse is that Aces play Kaizer Chiefs tonight and can possibly extend their advantage to six points with only two games remaining.
Cosmos only showed some attacking spirit in the dying minutes after Ajax had gone 1-0 up. Before that, they were happy to sit back in their half and wait for the Cape side to come to them.
The Urban Warriors basically dominated this match from start to finish. The score should have been a record, but a combination of Phali's heroics, sub-standard finishing and poor options in the final third of the field kept the score down.
Selolwane, who seemed to be out of favour with coach Foppe de Haan, played well with Bafana Bafana midfielder Lance Davids in the midfield. However, the performance of the men up front remained a major concern for the impatient Ajax fans.
Strikers Nathan Paulse and Diyo Sibisi experienced some hostility from the fans in the stands after they had squandered a host of opportunities. But the duo's work rate was superb and they could not be faulted for effort.