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Completing the NL promotion / relegation play-off double with a 2-0 win against Ajax Cape Town at Rand Stadium, the Black Leopards secured their place in the Premiership on Friday.
Ajax, who were beaten 1-0 in the corresponding match, needed to win convincingly at Rand Stadium, which would have left the Leopards needing a goal-heavy win against Tshakuma Tsha Madzhivandila in Monday’s final playoff game in the FNB Stadium.
It wasn’t going to be for the Urban Warriors as a listless display in a high-stakes game consigned them to another season at the GladAfrica Championship.
It remains to be seen how they will be able to mount another promotional race without Grant Margeman’s departure.
Ajax moved seamlessly when their sturdy midfield talisman was pulling the strings in midfield. Margeman, who was in his 100th game for Ajax, will join Mamelodi Sundowns in the offseason.
When he got injured Ajax lost their way and when he came back Swallows FC had already found the momentum that would catapult them to overtake Ajax in the final two league rounds.
That said, in the two playoff games against Leopards, Ajax not only came very close to galloping, they were caught off guard by a better organized team.
It will be a bitter pill for Calvin Marlin’s team, as they missed the play-offs on goal difference last season.
That the Leopards had a chance to fight for their status despite being the second worst top tier team will continue to be one of the longest running debates in South African football.
Yet for the second season in a row, the 15th-ranked Premiership team has survived the playoffs without breaking a sweat. The key for the Leopards will be to harness their survival in the same way that Maritzburg United overcame the baptism of fire to become one of the most formidable teams.
That said, with Ajax and Black Leopards tied at six points, with the former leading in goal difference, the winner of this game was going to have the whip in the promotion run.
The leopards could afford to lose and hope to beat TTM to preserve their status, but Isaac Masia’s two goals in the 14th minute and Mwape Musonda’s win in the 79th were enough to make Monday’s game academic. .
Ajax could not find the high speeds that saw him punch five goals in the second half against TTM and could do nothing to prevent the effervescent Tiklas Thutlwa from providing the assists that led to the two goals.
They were more than enough and the fact that Leopards kept a clean sheet in both victories against Ajax was the clear marker of superiority.
