Ajax secure late draw

Late goals by Franklin Cale and Ayanda Dlamini earned AmaZulu and Ajax Cape Town a point each as they drew 1-1 in their Absa Premiership tie at Cape Town Stadium.

Both teams had their chances to wrap up the match but had to wait until the final ten minutes to see the ball find the back of the net.

First Ayanda Dlamini scored form a goal mouth scramble in the 85th minute and just when Usuthu thought they had secured a precious win, Cale netted with a stunning free kick in the final second of injury time.

Ajax Cape Town came into the match after losing heavily in the week prior, having gone down 4-2 to Bidvest Wits and then 4-0 to Orlando Pirates, both games away from home.

They had a few injury concerns going into the match with Usuthu and had to do without the injured Nathan Paulse, Keagan Dolly, Abubbakar Mobara and Dominic Isaacs.

The Urban Warriors started the more confident of the two sides and enjoyed more ball possession in the opening minutes as Usuthu started with five across the back and Nhlanhla Shabalala sitting deep in midfield.

It paid off after six minutes when pressure created inside the AmaZulu 18 area resulted in a foul after some clumsy defending and Ajax were awarded a penalty. 

Franklin Cale drove his shot to Abrey Mathibe’s left but the goalkeeper made a good save.

For the next while, AmaZulu sat back and allowed Ajax to come forward and play. The home side did not create any clear cut scoring chance in the opening 30 minutes of play as Usuthu looked to frustrate the home side.

In the 36th minute, a great through ball by AmaZulu put Philani Shange in space down the right wing, but his final pass is not clinical enough and the chance comes to nothing.

Three minutes later and the visitors nearly stole an opening goal when Shange whipped in a cross to the far post after finding space behind the fullback, but somehow Ndulula fluffed a very good chance to bury the opening goal.

In the 58th minute a good one-two combination by Goodman Dlamini and Liphoko saw the latter fire in a shot, but it was always going over the bar.

Then Ajax replied swiftly with three good chances in the space of a minute. First Cale’s powerful shot was 

tipped over the bar by Mathibe and moments later the keeper saved two close range attempts from Tashriq Morris.

In the 73rd minute AmaZulu broke through on goal with Ayanda Dlamini in space, but ‘Cobra’ took too long to pull the trigger and another good chance was wasted.

But AmaZulu made it count in the 85th minute when Ayanda Dlamini pounced inside the danger area to bury a shot from a goal mouth scramble and hand Usuthu an important three points.

Then Cale struck the decisive blow from a direct free kick to earn a share of the spoils.

Ajax Cape Town (0) 1 (Cale 90’)

AmaZulu (0) 1 (A Dlamini 85’)

TEAMS

Ajax: Petersen – Allie, Coetzee, Lebusa (Jenniker 75’), Ncube – Scott, Graham – Lolo, Mzwakali (Nkoana 84’), Cale – Morris (Mulenga 75’)

AmaZulu: Mathibe – Mwedihanga, Nyadombo, Akoriko, Johannes, Hlanti – A Dlamini (Madondo 89’), Shabalala (Mthiyane 63’), G Dlamini, Shange (Liphoko 53’) – Ndulula