Bartlett: We’ve got to kill teams off

Cape Town Spurs head coach Shaun Bartlett wants his team to manage games better after playing out to a 1-1 draw against Polokwane City at Athlone Stadium on Good Friday.

The Urban Warriors took the lead in the 24th minute when Colin Ryan curled a stunning first-time shot into the top left corner of the net from all of 30 yards out.

However, Spurs allowed Rise And Shine back into the contest via a penalty, which was converted by Puleng Tlolane in the 55th minute after he went down under a challenge from Ryan.

In the end the hosts had to settle for a share of the spoils as the draw extended their unbeaten run in the GladAfrica Championship to three matches, although the outcome could have been very different had Abednigo Mosiatlhaga’s fifth-minute goal not been ruled out for offside.

TV replays showed that Mosiatlhaga had clearly been onside when Chumani Butsaka’s low cross from the left deflected into his path inside the area.

The coach was disappointed that the decision went against Spurs and stressed the importance of killing the opposition off to avoid dropping points in the future.

“Playing at home against Polokwane City, we always go in with the intention of getting a victory. If you want to have any success as far as the league is concerned you’ve got to make sure the home games are the ones that you win mostly,” Bartlett said.

“Just disappointing obviously that the legitimate goal that we scored was disallowed and that could have made a massive difference as far as the result was concerned.

“We gave them once again an opportunity to get back into the game as far as getting a penalty. We’ve got to make sure now that we manage the game better once we go one, two, three goals up and not allow opposition to get back into the game.”