Ajax end strongly

AJAX Cape Town finished the year with a flourish in defeating Chippa United 1-0 at the Cape Town Stadium last night.

The Cape side didn’t have the best of times early on in the season, but they’ve certainly come good over the last few weeks, with five wins in their last six games. And, after being at the bottom of the PSL log a while back, they have now rocketed to eighth.

The night not only belonged to Ajax for the victory, but it also cemented the arrival of a fantastic new talent. Ajax have, over the years, flooded the PSL with enterprising, gifted teenagers and this season saw the rapid rise to prominence of 18-year-old Grant Margeman.

Introduced by new Ajax coach Stanley Menzo a few weeks ago, his performances off the bench have been energetic and influential, resulting in the teenager from Bonteheuwel forcing his way into the starting team.

Last night, throughout the 90 minutes, Margeman demonstrated what all the fuss is about. He was brilliant, both in attack, with his passing range and game intelligence, and in the mature way he kept the shape and structure when having to track back in defence.

When the action got under way, it was a bit of a forgettable opening 15 minutes. While there was lots of effort, both teams turned over possession too easily and it resulted in a rather scrappy opening period.

With three minutes to go, Ajax’s pressure finally paid off when Prince Nxumalo raced through and, with only keeper Daniel Akpeyi to beat, the striker deftly chipped the ball over the keeper for a delightful finish.