Tsholola Tshinyana scored in the 27th minute to push Ajax Cape Town back to the top of the PSL log, one point above Santos, for a narrow 1-0 win against Moroka Swallows at Newlands on Wednesday night.
In the second half Ajax were lucky to survive a mighty onslaught by the the rampant visitors.
Ajax attacked from the start and had the Swallows’ defence under a lot of pressure with the result that some of the tackles by the visitors were dangerous.
In the first minute a corner kick was headed on by Bradley August and goalkeeper Greg Etafia just got to the ball in front of Grant Igesund.
Nine minutes later Shayne Poggenpoel’s shot hit the cross bar with the keeper well beaten. Then Edzai Kasenauyo cut in and his low shot was brilliantly by Moeneeb Josephs.
Ajax came close in the 25th minute when a cross from the right found Brett Evans’s header, which scraped past the far upright.
Two minutes later, a long ball upfield — and Tshinyana outran ‘keeper Etafia to the ball and it was easy for him to lob the ball into the net for Ajax to get their big break.
The visitors came close in the 39th minute when Kasenauyo’s shot was cleared off the line by Poggenpoel and in the 42nd minute the midfielder again saved a lobbed shot by Dennis Lota.
The visitors must have had a tongue-lashing at interval from coach Gavin Hunt and they came out fighting to keep Ajax under pressure fot the entire second half.
In the 68th minute the visitors were unlucky when Peter Petersen’s free kick came in from the side and subsitute Lungisani Ndlela rose high and his header scraped the cross bar.
In the 72nd minute Gary McNab’s volley from the edge of the box was brilliantly saved by Josephs. — Sapa