Ajax Cape Town beat National First Division side Winners Park 4-2 on penalty shootout at Seshego Stadium on Saturday to reach the semifinals of the Nedbank Cup.

It might not have produced elements of classical soccer, but this encounter included more strange, bizarre and ingenious twists than might have been contrived in a rousing World Wrestling Federation bonanza.

And inevitably after the helter-skelter game had provided more ups and downs than a stomach-churning Figure Eight in an amusement park, the outcome seemed destined to be decided via a penalty shoot-out ? with Ajax gaining the edge in this respect after the teams had ended 3-3 after extra-time.

The hero of the knife-edge thriller in the end was Ajax goalkeeper Andre Petim, who saved three spot-kicks overall ? one in scheduled play and two more in the penalty shoot-out when the Cape Town team's greater experience ultimately proved the telling factor in a match which could easily gone either way.

In contrast to Petim's timely poise in goal, the villain, so to speak, for gallant Winners Park was hapless Ndumiso Mabena, who failed to score from the penalty spot in the second half and again in the shoot-out when the Ajax goalkeeper accurately anticipated his intentions.

But Ajax also had their woes from the spot after Mabhuti Khenyeza had neutralised Malesa's dazzling fifth minute goal for Winners Park with a 14th minute penalty ? with the Cape Town side's prolific scorer shooting wide when he stepped up for a second penalty in the second half.

Although Winners Park appeared poised for a heartbreaking defeat after Thulani Serero had given Ajax a 2-1 lead in the 80th minute and were still in front with four minutes of scheduled play remaining, it was Mabena who enjoyed a moment of glory amid his penalty failures by sliding the ball into the corner of the net with a precisely-placed angle shot equaliser.

Winners Park, in fact, took the lead for the second time in the game through Desmond Chauke's snap breakaway goal in extra-time which looked set to provide another major upset in this tournament spattered with endless surprises ? but Ajax's Franklin Cale had other ideas and made the score 3-3 with a glorious 25-metre piledriver.

It was difficult, in the circumstances, for any neutral observer not to have had a tinge of sympathy for Winners Park, particularly as they saw out the 120 minutes of play with 10 men after Sefate Mokoto had been red-carded in extra-time of a game spattered with reckless tackles from both teams.

The manner in which Ajax were harrassed throughout can be reflected from the fact that they conceded 24 free-kicks against the 14 given away by Winners Park, who also had a number of curious refereeing decisions going against them.

Ajax had a searing headed goal from Brazilian Eduardo Ferreira disallowed, but it was Winners Park who were more often than not the team who suffered from strokes of bad luck - with the Cape Town club returning home from a harrowing experience with more relief than anything else.