CALVIN Marlin, interim coach of Ajax Cape Town, had a few issues on his mind before today’s match against Black Leopards.

These are the Urban Warriors’ two matches of the promotion / relegation play-offs in Johannesburg’s Soccer City.

Ajax currently have the lead in the series. He showed his fighting spirit by beating Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila FC (TTM) 3-2 in the first match at Rand Stadium on Sunday.

Marlin says: “There are two things we need to be vigilant about.

“It is Leopards’ good individual players who need to be watched. The way they play is sometimes very individual in approach.

“They also rely a lot on (Mwape) Musonda to get goals. So, we will have to be tactically well prepared.

“Then we will also have to prepare for the size of the field.

“FNB is a fairly large pitch and not really a field we are used to playing on.

“Hopefully the pitch will be better so that we can play a bit of football in the Ajax way so that we can dominate the ball possession.

“Hopefully the players will recover in time, because that is my biggest worry – the recovery between the two games.

Sharpen up

“It was a difficult battle for the players on Sunday – mentally and physically.

“We also have to look at where we can manipulate the team to use fresh legs.”

Ajax will have to sharpen up its defense under the high ball, as well as in terms of set pieces. This is where TTM almost beat Parow’s team if it was not for the team’s good character.