Bidvest Wits in Cape Town looking to claim points against Ajax

Ajax Cape Town will be looking to end their winless streak in the Absa Premiership when they host Bidvest Wits on this evening. The match takes place at Cape Town Stadium, kick-off at 19h30.

The Urban Warriors may have eased into the quarterfinals of the Telkom Knockout with a hard fought 1-0 win over Free State Stars just over a week ago, but on the league front they have been struggling somewhat.

On Friday night they went down 3-2 away to Moroka Swallows, a result which means they have picked up just one point from the last nine available – certainly not the kind of form which coach Maarten Stekelenburg expects from his charges.

Yet there was a silver lining in Ajax’s loss to the Birds at Dobsonville Stadium. Despite being three goals down at one stage, and having Nhlanhla Vilakazi sent off, they showed immense character to pull the game back to 3-2 and almost complete an amazing comeback.

That kind of character will be needed against the Clever Boys, who will also come into the game determined to get a positive result. The University-based team has won just one of their last seven league matches and their 1-0 defeat at home to SuperSport United on the weekend was their second successive loss.

Ajax and Bidvest Wits have met in 22 league games since the Urban Warriors’ formation in 1999. The Cape team has eight wins, six games have gone the way of the Clever Boys, and eight encounters have been drawn.

Ajax have a favourable home record against Bidvest Wits down the years and last lost at home to the Johannesburg team way back in 2003/04. Since then, the Cape team has claimed five wins from six league encounters against Wits in the Mother City.

The Urban Warriors beat Bidvest Wits 3-1 at home in the corresponding fixture from last season, though their goal scorers from that game, Sameehg Doutie and Thulani Serero, have both left the club.