Ajax hope travelling tweak can change fortunes on the road

With just a single away victory all year‚ Ajax Cape Town admit they are not the best travellers but hope a tweak in their routine for this weekend’s trip to Limpopo will help them to beat Polokwane City and advance to the Telkom Knockout quarterfinals.

Ajax have won one of 13 away games since the turn of the year – away in Mdantsane against Chippa United in May – and have built an unwanted reputation for performing poorly on the road.

It is a problem that has plagued the team for a while and kept the coaches perplexed‚ admitted Ajax boss Stanley Menzo.

“We’ve thought a lot about it and about trying different things. Maybe we should stay away longer when we travel. The last time we went that side [to Polokwane] it was against Baroka and it was good result‚” said Menzo of the 2-2 draw in a league clash at the end of September.

“What we did then was take an early flight [from Cape Town to Johannesburg] and had our final training session over there [in Polokwane]. So that’s what we are doing again.

“In the back of our mind that approach helped us to get a result last time and hopefully it can do the same for us again‚ or even a better result.”

Ajax left at 8am on Friday and were due to arrive in Polokwane after a bus trip from OR Tambo Airport by mid-afternoon‚ after which the squad would stretch their legs on the training pitch.

“Of course you are limited to do certain things when you travel away but we make a point of not spending too much time on prematch preparation‚ video analysis of the opponents. Rather we focus on ourselves‚” Menzo added.

“When you travel you are always trying to change small things‚ and see how the team reacts‚ because it’s always those small things that can make a big difference.”