Ikapa Sporting surprised many over the Easter weekend with a top four finish at the Under-19 Bayhill Metropolitan Premier Cup.
Ikapa qualified by winning the Mitchell’s Plain Under-19 league in 2015 and then underwent an intense scouting period to put together a group of top Cape Town talents. The result was an incredibly young team consisting of 5 x Under-17s and 6 x Under-16s. The Club offered the opportunity to 16 players who featured at the tournament for the first time.
After a shaky start, which included a come from behind 1-1 draw with local team Avendale and narrow 1-0 loss to University of Pretoria, Ikapa needed nothing but a win over Bloemfontein Celtic to qualify from their group on Saturday morning. The 2-0 victory was sealed with goals from Matthew Snell and Vasco Da Gama NFD guest player Jamie Webber.
The draw for the Round 16 pitted Ikapa against PPG Langa, a team who had been opponents on two occasions in a friendly and preparation tournament. In pouring rain and heavy winds, both sides did exceptionally well to display good brands of passing football. A triple change for Ikapa at half-time gave some momentum, although it head to extra-time after a goalless 60 minutes. A pinpoint cross from Luke Le Roux, turned in by captain Craig Joemath, proved to be the decisive touch to book Ikapa a Sunday morning meeting with another Cape side, Atlantic Nacional.
In a hotly contested affait on the Erica Park D field, Ikapa went 1-0 up through Adeeb Stiga Khan, only to see Atlantic draw level before the break. Le Roux then showed his quality with a stunning strike to push his side ahead, before Stiga added the finishing touch late in the second half for a 3-1 victory.
In what would prove to be the last match of the tournament for the newcomers, Ajax Cape Town scored midway through the first half to take the lead. After the break Ikapa pushed everything they had left in the tank at full tilt, resulting in a red card to Ajax and some nervy moments for the PSL juniors. However the fairy-tale run was over as Ajax snuck two late goals on the counter to bring an end to an impressive display from a number of bright young stars.