Publications
Partners
Cape Town - Baroka FC came from a goal behind to earn a creditable 1-1 draw against Ajax Cape Town at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium in the Premiership on Tuesday night.
The Urban Warriors began the game brightly with Bantu Mzwakali stepping past him man well before delivering the ball in to Roscoe Pietersen, who was unfortunate to see his diving header come back off the post.
Ajax continued to pressure and earned a penalty in the ninth minute when Philani Zikalala brought down Paulse in the box. The striker dusted himself off and slotted the spot kick home to give the visitors a well-deserved lead.
However, the goal only spurred the hosts into action with Sipho Moeti forcing a good save out of Petersen.
The home side finished the first half strongly, but were unable to break down the Ajax defence and were restricted to long-range chances that rarely trouble the Urban Warriors goalkeeper.
They continued to push after the restart and were handed their just reward when a ball over the top for Matloga caught the visiting defence completely off guard and the striker took the ball well and showed great composure to finish past Petersen to bring Baroka level.
As they game wore on, the home side looked far more likely to make anything happen as the visitors looked a bit lost, especially on defence.
A flurry of action late on saw Moeti and Albert Mothupa both test Petersen before Matloga curled a tantalising shot just over the bar.
Lucky Mothwa had a glaring opportunity deep into stoppage time when the away side were once caught by an overhead ball, but the substitute's poked effort somehow went over the bar.
Ultimately, Ajax can feel a bit fortunate for hanging on for a point and Baroka will feel aggrieved at only grabbing a point from their first Premiership match, in which they were surprisingly dominant.
