Chiefs players © Backpagepix

Mandla Masango and Knowledge Musona scored for Chiefs with Diyo Sibisi netting late on for Ajax.

It was perhaps not quite the action packed and thrilling final neutrals will have hoped for, but the majority of fans at the Absa Stadium, most of them Chiefs supporters, would not have been complaining.

Ajax started the game in fine style, their pace and purpose in attack putting the Amakhosi under severe pressure early on.

The Cape side should have been ahead in the opening 10 minutes, but Dipsy Selolwane’s shot was tipped over the bar by man-of-the-match Arthur Bartman, while Denis Ivanovs flashed a header wide with the goal at his mercy.

Selolwane then found himself clear through on goal after a superb pass from George Maluleka, but took too long to get his shot away and Bartman did well to block his effort.

The team in gold barely mustered an attack in the opening 20 stages of the game, yet they took the lead in the 20th minute when Punch Masenamela’s shot from a tight angle was parried by Hans Vonk into the path of Mandla Masango, who made no mistake from eight yards out.

Following the goal the game stagnated somewhat chances remained rare in final 20 or so minutes of the first half.

It took however less than a minute of second half action for the Soweto side to double their advantage when a mistake from Clayton Daniels was clinically punished by Knowledge Musona.

Ajax had a decent chance to pull one back 10 minutes later, but Daniels and Ivanovs got in each others’ way with the result that the latter’s header was a poor one.

The Urban Warriors began to enjoy more of the ball possession but it was Chiefs who had the confidence and the bit in between their teeth; Vonk had to be alert to keep out a 61st minute shot from Masango.

Paulse though was nearly in at the other end, but found himself denied by a brave block by Bartman.

With 22 minutes to go it should most certainly have been 3-0 to the Gauteng side, but Masango put the ball over the bar from less than five yards out after a great cross from Jimmy Tau.

In the 82nd minute Nhlanhla Shabalala was close to pulling one back for Ajax, but the outstanding Bartman made another superb save.

The Cape side kept on coming though and when Paulse squared the ball back across goal in the 85th minute, Bartman couldn’t hold on and Diyo Sibisi thundered the ball home from close range.

Ajax tried hard to try and carve out an equalising chance in the closing minutes, but the Chiefs defence held firm to ensure the Glamour Boys added another cup to their overflowing trophy cabinet.

Ajax Cape Town (0) 1 (Sibisi 85’)
Kaizer Chiefs (1) 2 (Masango 20’ Musona 46’)

Teams:

Chiefs (4-4-2): Bartman; Tau, Nahayo, Isaacs, Masenamela, Dladla, Nengomashe, Yende (Mathebula 84’), Nale (Matle 93’); Masango (Torrealba 80’), Musona

Ajax (4-4-2): Vonk; Allie, Ivanovs (Jenniker 70’), Daniels, Shabalala; Maluleka, Selolwane, Ngobeni, Scott (Diallo 78’); Lewis (Sibisi 70’), Paulse