Ajax ease relegation woes with win

Ndiviwe Mdabuka celebrates with teammates Travis Graham and Grant Margeman © Backpagepix

Ajax Cape Town eased their relegation woes with a 2-0 Absa Premiership win over Platinum Stars at the Cape Town Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Goals from Grant Margeman and Ndiviwe Mdabuka leading the Urban Warriors to 10th place on the log standings, six points clear of the relegation zone with four games remaining.

Margeman opened the scoring as early as the sixth minute, with the diminutive midfielder guiding the ball through the legs of Dikwena goal-minder Mbongeni Mzimela.

Travis Graham with the decisive through ball, as 18-year-old Margeman steadied himself before hammering the ball home for his third goal of the season.

The Urban Warriors continued to be the more dominant of the two sides with Prince Nxumalo guilty of missing a catalogue of chances.

Mzimela with two good saves, first to deny the forward from a header attempt - following a good run by Mosa Lebusa in the 33rd minute, before making a quality stop with his feet in the 42nd. Nxumalo the guilty party once more, as he failed to punish the hosts with only the shot-stopper to beat.

Ajax Cape Town were the dominant force in the opening stanza, and were almost made to rue their missed opportunities as Lebusa cleared off-the-line four minutes after the break.

Nathan Paulse and Thabo Mosadi then missed successive chances at the other end of the pitch, before Mdabuka finally doubled their lead.

His shot taking a wicked deflection off Luvo Mpeta before bouncing into the back of the net in the 66th minute of the clash.

Mark Mayambela had a chance to put the game to bed 10 minutes later, but he blazed over from close range. It mattered little, though, as the Cape club returned to winning ways.

Platinum Stars remain in 11th spot on the log standings, three points behind the Urban Warriors.

Ajax Cape Town (1) 2 (Margeman 6' Mdabuka 66')

Platinum Stars (0) 0

Ajax Cape Town: Petersen; Lebusa, Coetzee, Pietersen, Isaacs - Graham, Margeman, Mdabuka (Lartey 84') - Mayambela (Kabwe 75'), Mosadi, Nxumalo (Paulse 59')

Platinum Stars: Mzimela; Mpeta, Mlilo, Mkhabela, Mnguni (Phiri 71') - Mere, Mathe, Ng'ambi (Shilongo 80') - Nale (Mabena 73'), Msomi, Botes