Posted in News on Apr 03, 2004.
Veteran Zimbabwean striker Mugeyi capitalised on poor defensive work by Amakhosi on eight minutes to put the ball beyond Brian Baloyi’s reach. Amakhosi’s defensive woes were further compounded by an injury to Derrick Spencer, who was replaced by David Kannemeyer seven minutes before the break.
It was the second Absa Cup defeat for Amakhosi against the Cape Town club, who knocked them out at the same stage of the competition last year.
On this particular day, Chiefs looked out of sorts and never really threatened the Ajax rearguard. Coach Ted Dumitru also admitted that his side never “deserved to win” this match. “We were flat on the day, and they did well to protect their lead. After scoring they threw everything behind the ball,” said Dumitru.
“They (Ajax) put a lot of manpower behind the defence and that really made the difference. But equally disturbing and sad is that we have been robbed, time wise,” said Dumitru. “There were a lot of interruptions but such time was not allocated at the end of the half. We did not deserve to win and I am not using this as an excuse but this type of bias refereeing is bad for African football.”
“There was a chance for a penalty in the first half and eve a red card but everything seemed to go against us. It was a very bad day for the referee maybe even worse than ours,” Dumitru said.
It was a bad day indeed for Chiefs and they started with three attackers - Patrick Mayo, Collins Mbesuma and David Radebe - but that proved fruitless as Ajax effectively dealt with the threat.
It was only after the introduction of midfielder Stanton Fredericks on 49 minutes for Mbesuma that Amakhosi started pushing forward with more urgency.
Defender Cyril Nzama won possession in his half on 52 minutes and paced into the Ajax area before supplying the ball to Fredericks, whose attempt was cleared off the line by DRC international Bageta Dikilu.
Fredericks perhaps had his best chance on 59 minutes after he was released by veteran midfielder John Moshoeu but the former national under-23 star fired straight at the keeper.
At the other end Ajax had a perfect opportunity to put the matter beyond reach on 74 minutes but second half substitute Anele Zibi fired just wide with Baloyi clearly beaten. The Urban Warriors finished the match a man short after Dikilu was sent off for a second bookable offence on 82 minutes.
Even then Chiefs could not find the openings as Ajax held firm to give Gordon Igesund his first victory against Chiefs in regulation time. The three-time Castle Premiership winning Igesund was excited and boasted there was no way Chiefs could have won this fixture.
“We didn’t want them to counter,” said Igesund. “We defended very well and they were not going to score even if the game had gone another half an hour. I think we were smarter today and cleverer than the opposition. We played better and technically we never let them counter us or get behind us.”
Ajax are now on course for a rare league and cup double.
The draw for the Absa Cup quarterfinals will be conducted on Monday in Johannesburg.
