Ajax just aren’t making their opportunities count
THERE APPEARS to be no respite for Ajax Cape Town after their woes continued with a 1-0 defeat to Golden Arrows at the Princess Magogo Stadium in Durban yesterday.
A pall of gloom continues to hover over the Cape side as they remain mired secondfrom-bottom on the PSL standings, with just 21 points from 22 games. With eight games to go to the end of the season, and with only Platinum Stars (17 points) below them, they are cutting it rather close at the moment. In short, if Ajax don’t pick up points – and quickly too – the ignominy of either relegation or a promotion playoff could be a real possibility.
Ajax aren’t playing too badly, though. They just aren’t making their possession and scoring opportunities count. Even against Arrows yesterday, they were their own worst enemies in defeat. A shocking error from goalkeeper Brandon Petersen allowed Arrows in for the winning goal from the penalty spot – and, then, in the second half, when Ajax were the dominant team, they were unable to capitalise as they lacked the creativity to find a way through the opposition’s defence.
It was a case of mixed fortunes for Petersen, going from the sublime to the ridiculous. He pulled off a magnificent save to deny Arrows striker Lerato Lamola from scoring, but, a few minutes later, he misjudged a regulation cross from Limbikani Mzava. It was extremely windy at the ground, so perhaps the swirl played a hand in Petersen’s error, but, really, at this level, he should be taking that into consideration. When the ball rolled loose from the keeper’s error, Lamola was first to react, but he was fouled by Ajax skipper Mosa Lebusa, for which the penalty was awarded. Mzava powered the ball into the net, and that was it for Ajax. They were just unable to get back in it. Despite opportunities for Lebusa, Tendai Ndoro and Yagan Sasman, the Cape side had to be content with yet another defeat.
It makes this week’s fixtures extremely important for coach Muhsin Ertugral and his men. There is no room for error when they host SuperSport United at Athlone Stadium on Wednesday (7.30pm kickoff) and then take to the road to tackle Bloemfontein Celtic on Sunday.
Meanwhile, ANA reports that Orlando Pirates moved to second spot on the log after beating Chippa United 4-2 in a PSL match played at the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium in Port Elizabeth yesterday.
Experienced Chippa midfielder Mark Mayambela was a thorn in the flesh of Pirates and proved to be the architect of the opening goal in the 18th minute.
The former Pirates and Ajax man seemed to have run too far with the ball across the park, but managed to lay it off to Sizwe Mdlinzo, whose chip found Mxolisi Macuphu, who blasted the ball home.
Eight minute later, Pirates managed to level matters when Bernard Morrison’s attempted cross struck the arm of Chippa midfielder Paseka Mako on the right-hand side of the home team’s penalty area. Morrison put the spot-kick into the back of the Chippa net, just out of the reach of the host’s goalkeeper Brighton Mhlongo.
Pirates thought they had taken the lead in the 58th minute when midfielder Musa Nyatama played the perfect ball through to unleash Morrison who netted, but the goal was ruled off-side. Pirates striker Justin Shonga put the visitors ahead in the 73rd minute when he finished off an intense period of play in the Chippa goalmouth.
Ten minutes later, Chippa’s second-half substitute Katlego Mashego levelled the score with his first touch, as he netted after Thabo Rakhale’s shot was initially blocked.
However, Pirates restored the lead when defender Innocent Maela produced a superb cross from the left, which Thembinkosi Lorch managed to get a glancing header on, four minutes from fulltime.
Chippa did their utmost to find the equaliser, but were caught on a counter attack when Shonga powered home his second goal of the afternoon from the tightest of angles on the right-hand side in the 90th minute. CHANGE of format. Change of ball. Change of clothing. Change of opposition.
But the most important change for Proteas coach Ottis Gibson is the personnel change. After putting out an inexperienced group in the one-day and T20 international series against India – both of which were lost – Gibson can now turn his attention to Australia for a Test series where he will hopefully be able to call on all his stalwarts.
Captain Faf du Plessis played just one ODI, Quinton de Kock two and AB de Villiers the final three, while Hashim Amla, Aiden Markram and Kagiso Rabada all missed the entire T20 series.
“Experience again, experience. India have got (Jasprit) Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, two very experienced players. We’ve got (Chris) Morris and Junior Dala making his debut. The experience they have of playing not just for India but also playing three or four years of IPL cricket has shown in the end,” Gibson told the media after India clinched the T20 series at Newlands with a seven-run win on Saturday.
“If you see, the senior guys got injured. The new guys that came in, the level and the intensity they have had to perform at is different from what they have been accustomed to and they haven’t stepped up to and haven’t been able to adapt quickly enough.”
It certainly has been a chastening experience for the Proteas over the past few weeks. Since the dead-rubber final Test at the Wanderers, India have enjoyed an almost vice-grip on the home side. Gibson rued the absence of Du Plessis, with the skipper’s leadership a visible absentee.
“Our captain missing (Du Plessis) has been a massive loss‚“the Barbadian bemoaned. “Seniors in any team makes it stronger. Especially the seniors we have coming back in the team. It has been a massive loss without them being there. We all thought that AB’s body is better than what it was in ODIs.
“I hope he is somewhere near 100 percent and he can take place in his team. Even Dale Steyn is not far away again. So we missed the seniors in this series, no doubt about that. Having them back will give everybody a lift.”
Continuing the trend of change, Gibson was keen to stress that the Proteas’ team management will also leave the curators at the four Test match venues for the Australian series to their own devices when it comes to the preparation of the surfaces.
“I think the last time we tried to speak to the groundsman, everybody knows what happened at the Wanderers. So we’ve left the groundsman to prepare the best possible pitches they can get this time and see what happens,” Gibson said.