Posted on September 27, 2011 22:09
Stanton Lewis bagged a brace against his former club Ajax Cape Town to help AmaZulu end a 17-match losing run in the Premiership with a 4-0 victory at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Tuesday night.
Lewis, who spent close to eight years with the Urban Warriors, scored in the 31st and 72nd minutes, adding to an own goal from Nazeer Allie and a Tangeni Shipahu strike.
The hosts dominated throughout and will be breathing much easier after a torrid 2011, which saw them last win a league game in February and narrowly avoiding a relegation play-off last season.
Swede Roger Palmgren, who took over the reins after coach Manqoba Mngqithi was sacked, would have been happy with their start as Lewis almost put them ahead inside 60 seconds when he capitalised on a loose ball, that was volleyed just metres wide.
At the other end, Ajax showed plenty of enterprise in their movement, but struggled with their finishing, as Aidan Jenniker and Khama Billiat were restricted to long-range efforts.
The hosts drew first blood in the 19th minute when an attempted back pass from Nhlanhla Vilakazi was intercepted by Ayanda Dlamini, who rounded goalkeeper Sean Roberts and shot from the edge of the box - his effort striking the left upright before bouncing of a helpless Allie on its way in.
The lead could have been doubled moments later when a poor clearance from the Ajax keeper fell to Sibusiso Hadebe, but he rushed his shot which flew harmlessly over the crossbar.
However, there was no stopping Usuthu just after the half-hour when Shipahu raced away down the left and his cut back was side-footed home from six yards out by Lewis, to make it 2-0 at the break.
After the restart, Granwald Scott should have reduced the deficit, but his header from a pin-point Thembinkosi Fanteni cross brought the best out of goalkeeper Mbongeni Mzimela, in the team as a replacement for injured captain Tapuwa Kapini.
Marc van Heerden then curled a free-kick agonisingly wide for the home side, while Fanteni did manage to get the ball in the back of the net on the hour mark, only for his effort to be ruled off-side.
And with Ajax committing men forward in search of a lifeline, they were dealt a killer blow with two goals in the space of three minutes. Dlamini created both goals after first splitting open the defence in the 70th minute to put Shipahu in one-on-one with the Namibian lifting the ball over Roberts.
The striker then picked out forward partner Lewis on the right and the former Urban Warriors man cut inside before finishing neatly as AmaZulu cruised to victory.