Why Booth, Terror were hauled off
IT was a rather glum-looking Ajax Cape Town team who returned from Durban yesterday, with coach Maarten Stekelenburg not even making a press conference at Ikamva after picking up a flu bug.
Of course, not even a fit man like Stekelenburg could avoid picking up a bug of some sort after being drenched in his last two games on the touchline. And Tuesday night’s Nedbank Cup defeat at the hands of Amazulu probably made that virus even worse.
After cruising in the second half with a 2-0 lead in the replay – after the first match was abandoned due to heavy rain – Ajax fell apart at the back. And after the game eventually ended 3-3, the Urban Warriors lost 4-3 on penalties. And it looked like the substitution of experienced central defender Matthew Booth and striker Terror Fanteni could have been the turning point in the game, with the home team looking far more comfortable and confident.
Fanteni scored a fabulous goal and set up Khama Billiat before he was taken off around the hour mark. The striker also kept the Amazulu defenders busy with his physical presence and looked sharp for a guy who has only played a couple minutes of competitive football this year.
It seemed like Fanteni and Booth were being kept back for Saturday’s important league game against Mamelodi Sundowns at Newlands. Captain Granwald Scott and midfield stars George Maluleka and Brent Carelse also started the game off the bench. But assistant coach Wilfred Mugeyi said yesterday the Sundowns game was the furthest from their minds, and decided on the substitutions for different reasons.
“When we took off Matthew Booth, he was already on a yel- low card and a last warning from the referee. We just thought he could be out in the next tackle, that’s why we had to take him off,” Mugeyi told reporters yesterday. “The vision wasn’t about Sundowns. When he got the last warning, we though it’s going to be difficult for us to play with one man short.
“Terror Fanteni hasn’t had enough gametime and was definitely not going to last 90 minutes. So his legs were gone and we took him out,” the former Bush Bucks and Zimbabwe striker added.
Mugeyi said, while they are bitterly disappointed at not making it past the first round of South Africa’s premier cup competition, the players learned a few valuable lessons about preserving a lead in cup football.
Amazulu threw everything at Ajax in a pulsating last 30 minutes of football, with the Ajax defence and midfield all over the place. The Cape side lost their shape and got dragged into a street fight as the rain again came pouring down.
“When you’re leading 2-0 in a cup competition, you have to have the attitude of protecting that lead. It’s a lesson for us, to see how we can rectify the mistakes we make when teams are throwing more bodies forward,” the Ajax assistant coach added.