Spurs aiming to inflict a second straight defeat on All Stars
Cape Town Spurs will be targeting back-to-back wins for the first time this season when they take on All Stars at the Tsakane Stadium on Wednesday afternoon (3.30pm kick-off).
Shaun Bartlett’s side recorded their first home victory of the campaign as they beat Polokwane City 2-0 at Athlone Stadium on Friday, with Ashley Cupido bagging a brace.
As a result, the Urban Warriors moved up to eighth in the Motsepe Foundation Championship standings, four points adrift of the promotion places after six games.
Spurs lost 1-0 in the corresponding fixture last term, although All Stars have since relocated to Johannesburg from Cape Town, which will provide a different challenge for Bartlett’s side this time around.
The coach has stressed the importance of building up a head steam with the mid-season break just around the corner due to the World Cup taking place in November and December as we bid to push even higher up the table.
“It was a hard-fought win against Polokwane City last Friday, our first home victory that was very important for us in our quest to make sure that we close the gap between ourselves and maybe the top four or five,” Shaun said.
“And also to start [getting] a run going. We’ve said to the players that we need to get some back-to-back wins in our pocket, which we haven’t had for the past two seasons and our goal on Wednesday against All Stars is going to be important to go there for another victory.
“It’s a team that’s very solid, they don’t concede many goals – we’ve just got to make sure we defend as hard as we did on Friday and then on the counterattack utilise the speed that we have in our team.
“As a technical team we’re quite pleased with way the team is progressing. I think the second block of five games, which started last Friday, is going to be important to get as many points as possible in order to go into that World Cup break with a decent amount of points to compete come the second round.
“Also, keeping a clean sheet is always nice, it’s something to build on and I think our players fully understand that once we do not concede any goals, we have a better chance of winning games so that’s going to be the same approach on Wednesday against All Stars.”
All Stars saw their unbeaten start to the season come to an end with a 1-0 defeat to league leaders University of Pretoria on Sunday and they are just one point and one place ahead of us in the standings ahead of the midweek clash in Pretoria.
