Thulani Serero © Backpagepix

Two first half goals from Thulani Serero and a late strike from Franklin Cale was enough to separate the sides, as the Urban Warriors cruised to a 3-0 win. The Bulls – Grove’s nickname – showed plenty of fight as they pressed and hassled their top flight opponents, and restricted them to just a handful of genuine scoring chances, but the gulf in class was clearly evident throughout the match.

After a messy opening first ten minutes, where passes from both sides went astray as they seemed to struggle with the pace of the ball on the artificial surface, it was Ajax who showed their class with a well worked goal.

Some good passing saw Cale sprint free down the left and his pullback found Serero in the box; the young attacker controlled the ball before lashing home a half volley via the underside of the crossbar.

On 23 minutes a speculative long range effort from Clifford Ngobeni almost created a second goal for Ajax, as Grove goalkeeper Joubert Motaung spilled the ball, but he recovered in time to deny Mabhuti Khenyeza.

The Urban Warriors had to wait until nearly half time before they got their second goal, again from a Cale-Serero combination. The former swung in a great cross from the left and the latter ghosted between the central defenders to easily head home his second.

Khenyeza should have made it 3-0 in the 61st minute when a lovely one-two with Serero saw the former Golden Arrows and Kaizer Chiefs striker through on goal with only Motaung to beat, but he blasted the ball over the target.

Three minutes later Motaung made a good save to deny Ngobeni a goal direct from a free kick, punching the midfielder’s curling shot over the crossbar. But he soon looked uncertain in trying to catch a cross and was lucky that Aiden Jenniker’s close range shot with the goal gaping deflected off Grove defender John Maseko and away to safety.

On 69 minutes Ajax ‘keeper Andre Petim almost scored a bizarre own goal – an ill advised back pass from Clayton Daniels saw the young goal minder forced to try and clear with his left foot from an awkward angle and he hopelessly sliced his kick, with the ball almost curling into his own net.

Cale finally found Ajax’s third goal with 12 minutes to play, but again Motaung was unconvincing. Nazeer Allie provided a good cross into the penalty area that Cale met with an acrobatic volley, but the Grove ‘keeper fumbled the ball into the bottom corner when he should have made a relatively straightforward save.

Teams:

Grove (4-4-2): Motaung, Mthombeni, Modise, Maseko, Sibanyoni, Mahlangu, Dube, Mhlanga (Dlongolo 59’), Phala (J. Ngwenya 59’), S. Ngwenya (Tshabalala 64’), Lephoto

Coach: Nhlabathi

Ajax (4-2-3-1): Petim, Allie, Daniels, Carelse, Jenniker, Bisser, Ngobeni (Scott 76’), Mokoro (Doutie 46’), Cale, Serero (Alexander 80’), Khenyeza

Coach: Rosslee

Referee: Du Toit

Cautions: Dube; Ngobeni