TS Sporting advanced to the last 16 of the Nedbank Cup last night when they beat Ajax Cape Town 4-3 in a penalty shoot-out at Athlone Stadium after the match had ended 2-all after extra time.
Mbulelo Wagaba opened the scoring for the visitors in the 17th minute, and Sporting held onto their lead until the 89th minute when Ajax substitute Sonwabile Mfecane finally found the equaliser.
Sporting were back in the lead when former Nedbank Ke Yona player Katlego Mojela blasted one in, but Siphesihle Mkhize equalised again for Ajax to force the shoot-out, where Oscarine Masuluke not only saved one penalty, but also scored the winning goal. Ajax Assistant coach Calvin Marlin could not hold back his disappointment.
Marlin says Ajax are sometimes their own worst enemies and they were not able to stamp their authority on the game.
While this does allow the Glad Africa Championship leaders to focus on the league, Marlin says they want to win every game.
While Sporting coach Richard Mathaba was pleased to win in the end, he feels they should have wrapped the game up in the 90 minutes.
Mathaba, who returned to the club to take over four games ago, says the team is improving and if they played like they are now at the start of the season they wouldn’t find themselves 13th in the league.
Mathaba says he would love to emulate TS Galaxy’s Nedbank Cup performance from last season, but it is important to keep their focus on what is important.
– Report by Rob Delport
