After losing out to Mamelodi Sundowns in the Nedbank Cup final at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Ajax returned to the same venue three months later fired up to overcome an Amakhosi side that just did not pitch on the day.
Coached by Roger de Sa at the time, the Urban Warriors beat Chiefs 1-0, thanks to an early second-half penalty by lanky striker Nathan Paulse.
“It was a final that we were amped for because if you recall that same team played in the Nedbank Cup just three months prior to that at the same venue,” Paulse tells snl24.com/kickoff.
“It was an amazing feeling to get the goal. I came back to Ajax to help them compete for things, so to score in the final I felt that I had come full circle and I was happy to have helped them to success after a long [trophy] drought.”
Paulse feels they had an edge against Amakhosi because they knew each other well as players, having worked together with De Sa for over a year. The now retired Paulse also credits the good blend of youth and experience in the Ajax side.
“So that feeling of having lost out is something we held going into the MTN8. It gave us perfect opportunity to bounce back, which we did.
“On the day, we had feeling that we had the upper hand because we had been together as a team for over a year. We had a mixture of youth and experience. On the day we were firing.”
The 2015 final is remembered for being the last match of the late Cecil Lolo, who had a blinder of a game that afternoon.