Bartlett confident Spurs will ‘win their first match’ in elite league

Cape Town Spurs coach Shaun Bartlett is confident his side can keep their nerves in check when they face TS Galaxy in the DStv Premiership opening match at Mbombela Stadium on Sunday (3pm).

After gaining promotion to the premiership by winning the promotional playoffs, Bartlett said it was important to win their first match in the league to build from that going forward.

“Firstly, the promotion was achieved. Now we have to reignite the brand and the only way we can do that is results,” Bartlett said.

“We can’t make people happy by doing marketing and stuff off the field. It is results, that’s the only way to make people happy and that’s what we have to do now from the first game against Galaxy, whether it is away or home, get the result and build on that for the future.”

Having participated in the promotional playoffs in June and winning the mini-league to be promoted to the elite league, Bartlett is happy with his players’ conditioning ahead of their league opener.

“We are in good condition because we didn’t have a break. We had two weeks off, which meant the base of the fitness was still there, so for us, we didn’t have to prepare a lot to get the players to a level we needed to,” he said.

“And we played a couple of friendlies, so the process has been good and we have one more week before the first game of the season and I’m very happy where we are at this moment.

“It’s really emotional to see Spurs back in the top league again and as a player, I have always challenged myself to go and play against the best players in the world. That has carried on over to me as a coach.”

After visiting Galaxy in the opening match, Spurs will host Sekhukhune United, before facing another premiership returnee Polokwane City and Bartlett is targeting a perfect start.