Ajax will have to ignore history in Chiefs showdown
TO avoid the PSL promotion/relegation playoffs, Ajax Cape Town will need to achieve a feat they have not experienced since 2013.
On the final day of the season, the Urban Warriors will attempt the great escape against Kaizer Chiefs at the Cape Town Stadium.
Ajax need a victory against Amakhosi to stand the best chance of avoiding a 15th-place finish and subsequent playoff battle.
The Mother City outfit have not tasted a league win over Chiefs since their 1-0 win five seasons ago.
Even a victory may not be enough as it will be dependent on the results of two other games where SuperSport United will take on Baroka and Polokwane City face Chippa United.
It will be mission improbable for the team up against a Soweto giant they have beaten only twice in their last 10 league clashes.
But come D-day on Saturday (3pm), past results will be thrown out the window.
Ajax coach Muhsin Ertugral said the players knew well that their careers were on the line.
“As a coach my job is to instil confidence and belief in the players that we can overcome this difficult moment and we should take it more as a test of character,” Ertugral said.
“It is up to us to stand up and show that we are much better that this.
“It’s not over yet and after the match on Saturday we need to be able to be proud that we never gave up irrespective of the result. But yet we are in the fight for our lives.”
The current season has been the worst in the history of the club as they are second from the bottom with a record of 14 losses, eight wins and seven draws with 31 points from 29 games.
Meanwhile, both Free State Stars and Maritzburg United are deliberately not changing their routines or making any special plans for next weekend’s Nedbank Cup final.
“If you start to do things out of the ordinary‚ you create confusion‚” Stars general manager Rantsi Mokoena insisted yesterday.
Maritzburg’s operations manager Quintin Jettoo said: “It’s just another game. We are keeping the same situation we always have.”