Ajax Cape Town eased their relegation problems when they beat Jomo Cosmos 1-0 in a Castle Premier Soccer League match played at Newlands on Wednesday evening.
This win puts Ajax five points ahead of Bush Bucks who still have a game in hand.
Ajax was a different team to the one that played on Sunday, keeping Cosmos under constant attack. In contrast, Moeneeb Joseph, the Ajax goalkeeper, first defended his goal in the 40th minute.
Cosmos goalkeeper Thano Mkhonza brought off several excellent saves however, and certainly kept the score down. In the third minute Dillon Sheppard centred, and Mkhonza did well to save Bradley August’s header.
In the ninth minute Robert Nauseb’s 20m drive was just wide of the upright but a minute later Ajax opened the score when Josep Ngaka’s 25m low drive deflected off Cosmos captain Hilton Jordan to hit the back of the net, for the match’s only goal.
In the 21st minute August’s piledriver from 15m was brilliantly saved by Mkhonza who could not hold the ball. Although it rolled freely away from the goal, no attacker was there to follow up.
In the 31st minute Shane Poggenpoel centred and Brent Caresle headed wide from 3m out.
Cosmos made three changes at the interval and stepped up their attack but were often caught in the offside trap.
Jordan had an outstanding game in the Cosmos defence and broke up several well-engineered sorties. – Sapa