Cape Town - First Divisioners Cape Town Spurs have stolen a march on PSL outfit Maritzburg United in their quest to gain promotion to the lucrative DStv Premiership next season.
Spurs defeated Maritzburg 1-0 in a PSL promotion playoff clash at the Athlone Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The outcome meant that Spurs retained an unbeaten record, at the expense of Maritzburg's Team of Choice, and are heading the log for the three-team tournament.
As the Premiership team, Maritzburg were favoured to win but Spurs caused an upset and are handsomely placed with six points and two clean sheets after two matches.
Spurs' 1-0 scoreline would have been greater but they were wasteful towards the end of the match when at least three gilt-edged scoring chances were spurned. At the time, despairing Maritzburg made a desperate effort to land the equaliser and was repeatedly caught on the break.
These missed opportunities may come back to haunt Spurs if the final log positions are decided by goal difference.
It was the first time in five years that Spurs, renamed Ajax Cape Town, went up against a Premiership team. Spurs, in the guise of Ajax, were relegated from the Premiership five seasons ago.
Maritzburg's coach Fadlu Davids had huge respect for Spurs, saying the Cape Town team were like Premiership opponents. He added the team was packed with seasoned campaigners.
Davids' counterpart at Spurs, Shaun Bartlett, felt the experience in the ranks tipped the scales in their favour on Saturday.
"Yes, we indeed have an ageing team but at the end of the day, they have applied themselves very well," said Bartlett.
"Let's look at Clayton Daniels and Nazeer Allie. You could see the commitment and desire to want to win the game. I have to give credit to them and everyone else in our team."
Allie, who turned 38 a few days ago, was the oldest player on the field (by a few months) but made a telling contribution with his free-kick which led to 34-year-old midfielder Michael Morton scoring what was the eventual winner.
The Maritzburg defence was unable to deal effectively with Allie's threatening kick into the striking zone.
Daniels, the former Bafana Bafana central defender, is also a 38-year-old. He worked his socks off all afternoon to help shut out Maritzburg's attacks.
"We showed the commitment and the type of football that we want to play," said Bartlett, who found himself in a similar position seven years ago when he guided Golden Arrows through the play-offs to win promotion.
"They could not handle the pressure and the intensity, and we have to apply ourselves if not better than we did today."
Spurs will have a short turnaround and will return to Athlone Stadium on Wednesday afternoon to host fellow NDF side Casric Stars who are winless after two matches.
Stars seemingly only have pride to play for but their coach Joseph 'Bucs' Mthombeni has urged his players to treat the play-offs as a showcase window. He admits that his team, after two straight defeats, are unlikely to outdo Spurs or Maritzburg in the race for promotion, but players have a chance to enhance their profile.
Mthombeni, who is also the chairman of the Mpumalanga-based club, said some of his players are on the shopping lists of PSL clubs.
Bartlett, however, feels his team can nail down their promotion bid with a win over the visiting Stars on Wednesday.
"The game against Stars will be very important. I cannot stress that more than I have before," said Bartlett.
"It will be a second game at home for us and if we get the victory, we will have to wait for the last game against Maritzburg to know our fate. This game might be a decider in gaining promotion to the top flight.
"We are going to take it one game at a time.”
@Herman_Gibbs
IOL Sport