‘Ajax are on the front foot’

Ajax Cape Town coach Calvin Marlin (above) believes having registered maximum points in their first match of the promotion-relegation playoff eases the pressure on his team heading to their clash with Black Leopards at FNB Stadium this afternoon.

Marlin’s troops staged a remarkable come-back in their tie with Tshakuma Tsha Madzivhandila, beating the the Limpopo side 3-2 after being 2-1 down.

Now, having came out of a tough battle, the Urban Warriors coach reckoned his charges needed to recharge their batteries before facing Lidoda Duvha.

“The first game you have to get three points, we all know that it puts pressure on other teams straight away. If we had lost that game, it would have meant that we had to win the remaining three games. So, you have to be in the driving seat from the first game and we are with three points,” said the former goalkeeper.

“We needed a little bit of a rest, it was a hard game for the guys. Some of them are going to be really exhausted.

“So, yeah, a couple of days then Wednesday (today) it’s Black Leopards. They had an extra day’s rest from Saturday (last PSL game).

“Either way, we are going to have to deal with it. Have a look at the boys, rest them quite well and look forward to Wednesday (today) for another tough game.”

Leopards are on a mission to save their PSL status after finishing the season in 15th position.

The Limpopo outfit will head into this game after losing their last league game 3-0 to Mamelodi Sundowns.

However, that doesn’t really make them easy opponents and Marlin added that they needed to come with a good game plan to overcome Leopards.

“We just have to watch a few clips of them and see how they play to develop our strategy against them based on what we have observed, so that is what we have been doing.

“They are a PSL club, they will probably have a little bit more quality on the ball at times, so we will see what we are up against.”