Cape Town - Ajax Cape Town coach Muhsin Ertugral claimed that SuperSport United were caught off guard by their offensive tactics at the beginning of their 2-0 win.

Fagrie Lakay and Mario Booysen netted for the Urban Warriors in Wednesday's clash at Athlone Stadium, lifting them out of the relegation zone.

According to Ertugral, the win came as no surprise to him. "I knew this team had the capacity - I know it’s easy to say after winning, but we also had a very organised win against Orlando Pirates," he is quoted as saying by KickOff.

Ertugral explained that Ajax looked for an early goal before focusing on staying solid at the back and defending their lead as the game progressed. The Turk claimed the plan worked to perfection.

"In our defensive organisational forms, we are now getting to the next level. There are lots of elements we need to look into, as we cannot just come and play offensive football. We did that in the first half an hour, which SuperSport did not expect at all. We pressured them into playing in certain areas and then closed them down, and they couldn’t cope with it.

"I was worried a dilly-dally ball might go in for them, but I knew if we could get one goal in, we could go back, close shop completely and play on the counter," he said. "And that worked for us, and on the counter we had a lucky goal in the end.

"But overall we completely deserved the victory because of the attitude of the players; everyone did their job and it’s marvellous to watch a team at that level, the fighting spirit and the type of football."

Ajax will face Bloemfontein Celtic at the Dr Molemela Stadium on Sunday (15:30) in their next game. The Urban Warriors currently sit, just one point clear of 15th-placed Polokwane City, who have two games in hand. However, a win over Siwelele would see Ertugral's side leapfrog them.