Ajax take top spot

Ajax Cape Town had a scintillating second half against Moroka Swallows at the Cape Town Stadium.

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Ajax Cape Town secured top position in the Absa Premiership, thanks to a scintillating second half showing against Moroka Swallows at the Cape Town Stadium on Friday night, the game ending 2-0 to the home side.

The first half saw the Urban Warriors doing the bulk of the attacking, with Thulani Serero, Sameehg Doutie and Khama Billiat showing amazing pace and skill in attack.

The Cape side also earned a string of corners throughout the opening 45 minutes, both at set-pieces and in open play, but the Swallows defence showed itself to be in determined mood as they repelled wave after wave of Ajax's forays.

And for all their endeavours, Ajax never really threatened the Swallows goal; the only time Greg Etafia had to make a fully-fledged save was after 14 minutes when he got behind Serero's stinging shot from just outside the box.

Etafia did however have to make several interventions to keep out Doutie's crosses, which came one after another after he replaced the injured Terror Fanteni after 28 minutes.

There was a chance after 32 minutes when Granwald Scott showed nimble feet to skip through the Swallows defence, but the angle of the shot was always against him.

And despite ending the opening half with a succession of corners, Ajax just could not make inroads into the Swallows defence.

The Urban Warriors started the second half with the same attacking intent, and it nearly paid dividends.

In fact, the hosts should have taken a 50th minute lead, but Doutie somehow shot wide of goal from only six-yards out with an open net at his mercy.

The Ajax right winger then missed another chance in the 52nd minute, getting his shot from 12-yards all wrong after some unbelievable dribbling from Serero.

And then on several occasions, the likes of Brent Carelse and Serero showed some delightful touches, but they were guilty of over-elaborating and no real chances on goal arose.

Serero though showed glimpses of world-class talent and it was through one such moment that the deadlock was broken in the 67th minute when he improvised to pull the ball back for Carelse, through his own legs, for the senior player to sweep home from 10-yards.

Ajax created a string of further half chances before Doutie wrapped the game up in the 88th minute, applying the finishing touch after some excellent work by Billiat down the left.

It was certainly not a bad performance by Swallows, but the Birds simply had no answer to Ajax's incredible mobility, pace and skill. - Sapa

Source: http://www.iol.co.za/ajax-take-top-spot-1.1018534

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