Happy days returned for Kaizer Chiefs at Newlands Stadium on Sunday afternoon, appropriately at the site of one of the darkest hours in the club’s history, when the revitalised Amakhosi beat Ajax Cape Town 3-0 and wiped out to some degree the bitter memories of the last encounter between the two teams.
It was at the same venue earlier in the season that frustrated Chiefs’ supporters ran amok after their revered team had been bundled out of the MTN8 competition by Ajax — resulting in the club incurring the biggest fine in PSL history while leaving their reputation tainted and tarnished.
This time it was a totally different story, with the team who were wallowing at the bottom of the PSL log only a matter of weeks ago now having forged their way into a position among the eight leading teams.
And emphasising this soothing turnaround in no small manner was the fact that the much-derided Kaizer Motaung jnr, who has been booed and lambasted by his own team’s supporters after struggling to find form this season, started Chiefs’ rampant ascendancy with a stunning volleyed opening goal in the 29th minute that left former Bafana Bafana goalkeeper Hans Vonk looking on in bewilderment.
It was to be one of those games in which everything ran smoothly for the winning team and nothing could go right for the losers, with Thabang Rooi scoring an acrobatic second goal for Chiefs in the 44th minute with his back to the posts resulting in defenders and teammates looking on in apparent disbelief as the ball entered the net.
Chiefs’ domination was forcibly imprinted when bustling Nkosinathi Nhleko, who was a handful for the Ajax defence for the entire 90 minutes, thundered Amakhosi’s third goal into the roof of the net in the 85th minute.
What is more, the scoreline in no way flattered Amakhosi, who had sufficient inviting opportunities to have won the match by five
goals.
Ajax, in contrast, missed a 54th minute penalty when Sifiso Vilakazi could not have telegraphed his intentions more to goalkeeper Arthur Bartman had he sent him an e-mail as to where he was placing his shot.
Notwithstanding this, the veteran stand-in goalkeeper did well to remain cool and make a save that emphasised the sterling work he
is doing for Chiefs.
The missed penalty was of catastrophic consequences for Ajax. They were trailing 2-0 at that stage and a goal might have brought them right back into contention.
Instead, they sagged like a punctured balloon after playing their best soccer of the game for 10 minutes after the interval and never looking like salvaging something from the game afterwards.
In fairness to the Cape Town side, however, it needs to be pointed out they have a contingent of five players currently in Egypt with the South African team at the World Under-20 championships and this surely made a difference.
But it was a miserable afteroon for former Chiefs and Ajax coach Muhsin Ertugral, who was, nevertheless, gracious enough to concede that Amakhosi were in top form and unreservedly deserved their success.
In other PSL matches played on Sunday, Wits striker Calvin Kadi continued his fine form as he scored in the Students’ 2-1 drubbing of Jomo Cosmos at Milpark. In Durban, Amazulu scored their first home win of the season when they put together a polished all-round performance to beat Moroka Swallows 2-1 at Chatsworth Stadium. — Sapa