Ajax Cape Town reached the quarterfinals of the lucrative Coca Cola Cup competition when they beat Dynamos 1-0 at Newlands on Wednesday night, and Jomo Cosmos also advanced to the quarterfinals when they beat Hellenic 4-2 on penalties after the teams were level 1-1 after extra time.
Playing in pouring rain, Ajax opened the score in the ninth minute when Bradley August centred from the left and Josep Mgake volleyed the ball home.
Ajax should have been two up in the 23rd minute when another August pin-point cross found Wilfred Mugeyi but Dynamos goalkeeper Aime Kitenge did well to hold on.
Dynamos’ never-say-die attitude nearly had them equalising in the 28th minute when Joel Seroba’s shot beat Ajax goalkeeper Moeneeb Josephs, but was wide of the upright and again in the 52nd minute when Nicholas Mkhabela’s strike came agonisingly close.
But it was the Dynamos keeper, Kitenge, who was the busiest on the field as he thwarted many an Ajax attack, most notably in the 76th minute when he pulled off a blinder from an 8m Brent Carelse thunderbolt.
In the Jomo Cosmos/Hellenic match, Hellenic survived an attacking onslaught by Cosmos in the first 30 minutes, but it was Hellenic striker Russel Khuzwayo who came closest to open the scoring when his strike hit the underside of the Cosmos crossbar in the 37th minute.
In the 43rd minute a pile driver by Cosmos’s Sam Magalefa was brilliantly saved by Hellenic goalkeeper Garath Ormshaw, who had an awesome game between the poles.
However, Hellenic took the lead in the 47th minute when Khuzwayo centred from the left for Makwinje Soma-Phiri to head home.
In the 86th minute Cosmos’s Tico-Tico Bucuane levelled the scores.
Lucky Mhlathe failed to convert for Cosmos in the penalty shoot-out, while Anton Greyling and Gareth Ncaca missed for Hellenic. — Sapa