Cape Town Spurs head coach Shaun Bartlett has ambitions of getting the club that gave him his first big break back to the top tier of SA football. 

Spurs are campaigning in the GladAfrica Championship, and Bartlett answered the call to join his beloved club in October last year when they were going through a transitional period and were bottom of the table.

He has managed to take them to 12th spot and he has a sincere desire to take the team to the promotional places. 

“For me, it’s exactly 30 years ago when I signed for Cape Town Spurs in 1992. There’s sentimental value in me coming back to get this club where it belongs. Spurs have always been close to my heart,” said Bartlett. 

“This was a club that has been a stalwart in Western Cape, with name changes from Ajax Cape Town to Cape Town Spurs. At the end of the day it’s still the same set-up. 

“For us, it’s still the same ambition, we want to be in the DStv Premiership. That’s where the club belongs.

“As impossible as it seems now, we have to put a run together,” said the former Bafana Bafana striker. 

The Cape Town side have not managed to put together a consistent run of positive results. Their most recent match was the 1-1 draw with Jomo Cosmos on Sunday. 

They will return to league action when they go to the Soshanguve Giant Stadium to take on JDR Stars on March 16. Spurs have already started with preparations for the match, using the off week to play friendly matches. 

“The best preparation is to play practice matches. In training you try to implement something new, in practice matches you see how it’s carried out. We have already played one practice match,” said the 49-year-old coach.

“The biggest issue for us has been that after the break we are not scoring enough goals; how we can create opportunities and convert most of those. That’s one thing for us to do in the next 10 days leading to our match against JDR Stars.

“We have to make sure players score in practice matches to build their confidence,” he said. 

NFD Results:

Venda Football Academy 1 - 1 JDR Stars; Platinum City Rovers 0 - 2 University of Pretoria; Cape Town Spurs 1 - 1 Jomo Cosmos; Black Leopards 0 - 0 Hungry Lions; TS Sporting 1 - 1 Cape Town All Stars; Uthongathi 0 - 0 Free State Stars; Richards Bay 0 - 0 Polokwane City; Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila 2 - 1 Pretoria Callies.