Arrows salvage draw

Chatsworth - Lamontville Golden Arrows and Ajax Cape Town played to an entertaining 1-1 draw in their Absa Premiership match at the Chatsworth Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.

Ajax held the upper hand for much of this contest, but Arrows showed good fighting spirit to salvage a point after falling behind to Khama Billiat's first half strike, and they almost made off with all three points when they took control in the closing stages.

A win for the home side would have pushed them a point ahead of their rivals who occupied fourth position on the Absa Premiership standings with 20 points from eleven games. But they had to be content with fifth position for the time being.

The home side got out of the blocks quicker and dominated proceedings during the early exchanges, and their best chance of the half came when Njabulo Mnaqana laid an inch perfect pass into the path of Itumeleng Duiker who raced past the visiting defenders.

But the midfielder had his shot smothered by Hans Vonk, the Ajax goalkeeper, who was alert to the danger. That was the only serious threat that the hosts were able to conjure in the first half, as the Cape Town team began to find their feet and just seemed better equipped to deal with the sweltering hot conditions that gripped Durban.

Zimbabwean Khama Billiat kept the Arrows' defence on their toes with his tireless running and sharp eye for the goal.

In the 17th minute he unleashed a powerful drive which keeper Helton Da Rocha parried to safety. Thulani Serrero's well-weighted pass created the shooting space for the striker.

It was Billiat and Serrero working in tandem in the 29th minute that resulted in the game's opening goal. Once again, Serrero provided the defence-splitting pass, but on this occasion Billiat was able to fashion a strike beyond the reach of Da Rocha.

The fleet-footed Billiat left the Arrows defence for dead yet again, just before the interval. However, on this occasion, Da Rocha raced off his goal-line and was able to prevent the striker from putting Ajax further ahead.

Arrows clawed their way into the game, against the run of play in the second half, when second half substitute Siphesihle Nzimande powered a header past Vonk from a Thamsanqa Mkhize set-piece on the hour mark.

The equaliser seemed to have breathed new life into the home side and suddenly they found an extra gear.

They pressed hard in the remaining minutes, looking for the winning goal. Siyabonga Nkosi had a chance to do just that in the 76th minute, but he flashed a header wide when he had Ajax's goal at his mercy.

Ajax were able to hold on and returned to Cape Town with a deserved point.