Mninawa Ntloko
31 October 2007
Johannesburg — EARLY pacesetters Ajax Cape Town and Bloemfontein Celtic will be attempting to maintain their fairytale starts to the season when they face tricky opposition in tonight's games.
Leaders Ajax welcome a Wits side that could pose problems at Athlone Stadium as no less than five players in the Gauteng visitors' line-up trace their origins back to Cape Town.
Ajax spokesman Thabiso Mekuto said yesterday they would not be able to ambush Wits as their Cape contingent of goalkeeper Moeneeb Josephs, Ashraf Hendricks, Kenwyn Manuel, Marawaan Bantam and Byron Hendricks know all about conditions in the Mother City.
"I am sure that their coach, Roger de Sa, intends to use this knowledge to their benefit," he said. "In fact, do not forget that Roger himself was based in Cape Town until recently and knows what we are all about.
"But this is going to be a tough outing for both teams, no matter which way you look at it."
Wits will, of course, have the irrepressible Josephs in their ranks and he is arguably one of the best players in the country at the moment.
The goalkeeper has been in top form over the past few weeks and led the national soccer team to the Cosafa Cup title last Wednesday night.
Josephs was until June last year the No1 goalkeeper at Ajax and should relish the opportunity of going up against his former side in his old stamping grounds tonight.
Mekuto said that while Ajax were at the premiership summit at the moment, they had decided not to obsess too much about their standing.
"We may be top of the table but we have only amassed 13 points. We will only start getting excited if we are still at the top and we have over 40 points.
"That would be something to cheer about, but for the time being, we have to keep trying to win more points."
Second-placed Celtic have their own problems as they host domestic premiership holders Mamelodi Sundowns in a game that should pack them in at Vodacom Park.
Celtic will want to forget the last meeting between the two sides as they were on the receiving end of a 4-1 drubbing during a one-sided SAA Supa 8 quarterfinal match at Loftus in August.
The Free State side has a priceless opportunity for revenge as this encounter will be played in their own Vodacom Park backyard, and, more important , Sundowns are still struggling to get into their stride.
Sundowns coach Gordon Igesund said he was not too happy with the champions' 13th place on the standings but envisaged that a victory against Celtic and other positive results in the coming fixtures would propel his limping side up the table.
Sundowns will have to make do without the talents of Mbulelo Mabizela and Oscar Ntwagae, who are suspended after picking up three cautions each.
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