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Cape Town - Ajax Cape Town has cruised into the Telkom Knockout quarterfinal with considerable ease after they crushed Black Aces 3-0 at the Cape Town Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Ajax made a bright start to the game, enjoying most of the early ball possession on a scorching afternoon in the Mother City, while Aces looked lethargic and off the pace throughout the opening stanza.
The hosts took the lead in the seventh minute when Thabiso Nkoana was on the end of a knock down in the box from Tashreeq Morris. Nkoana made no mistake sweeping the ball across Aces goalkeeper Energy Murambadoro into goal.
Ajax winger Keagan Dolly should have doubled the lead three minutes later, but he headed straight at Murambadoro after an inviting cross by Morris.
Another chance soon followed for Ajax, with Nkoana creating space for himself on the edge of the box with a clever turn before seeing his shot pushed wide of goal by Murambadoro.
But the Urban Warriors were to underline their dominance with a second goal in the 18th minute, as Nkoana improvised with a looping header over Murambadoro.
AmaZayoni looked sluggish and disjointed, barely able to create a chance on goal. There was a one decent opportunity after 20 minutes for Zamuxolo Ngalo, but his header was poor and cleared the bar by some margin.
With the heat taking its toll, and Ajax happy to sit back and keep the ball, the remainder of the first half failing to deliver any clear-cut chances on goal at either end of the park.
The second half saw Aces making a slight improvement in terms of their attacking intent, although apart from one or two moments in the Ajax box, they hardly created any problems for the hosts.
Ajax had a couple of chances to add to their tally, but Morris was unable to pick out the bottom corner of the net after a strong run.
Dolly squandered a close range effort when he ballooned the ball over the bar before Franklin Cale was denied by Murambadoro.
The final nail was hammered into AmaZayoni's coffin after 75 minutes when Abubaker Mobara sprinted through the middle of the park, interchanging passes with Cecil Lolo before burying a 20-yard angled drive emphatically into the bottom corner.
Scorers:
Ajax Cape Town (3) (Nkoana 7’, 19’, Mobara 76’)
Black Aces (0)
Teams
Ajax Cape Town: Jaakola, Coetzee, Allie, Mobara, Lebusa, Graham (Davids 77’), Nkoana, Scott, Morris, Mzwakali (Lolo 72’), Dolly (Calel64’)
Black Aces: Murambadoro, Gumede, Ngalo, Nengomasha, Gyimah, Timm (Tukane 58’), Adusei, Okonkwo (Ndoro 67’), Khenyeza, Nale, Masina Mbesuma 78’)
