Bartlett: Nothing less than three points will do in Joburg

Cape Town Spurs head coach Shaun Bartlett is supremely confident of getting back on the winning trail against NB La Masia at the Dobsonville Stadium on Sunday to keep our title chances alive.

The Urban Warriors were unable to make it three wins on the spin in the Motsepe Foundation Championship last weekend when they lost 2-1 to Venda Football Academy at the Thohoyandou Stadium.

Title rivals Casric Stars managed to overtake Spurs into pole position after they secured a point in a 1-1 draw with Pretoria Callies at the TUT Stadium to go one point clear at the summit with two matches left to play.

Bartlett’s side have struggled on their travels in the last two months, winning just one of their four games away from home, although the coach is convinced they can do the league double over La Masia with the right mentality and application.

He also stressed the importance of scoring goals in Joburg, as well as keeping a clean sheet as goal difference could well decide where the MFC trophy ends up next weekend.

“Going into the final two games of the season, we’re still pretty confident of getting maximum points from both games to put us in a good position,” Bartlett said.

“Obviously that also depends on how results go for Casric [Stars] against Venda and All Stars but for us [the task] is to focus on what we have to do.

“We’ve got a massive game against La Masia on Sunday in Johannesburg so we’ve got to go there with the attitude and intention of getting maximum points, and we’ll take it to the final game but we’ve worked really hard to get ourselves in this position.

“We’ve had a really good season, especially at home, the away form has been inconsistent but for us is go to Johannesburg to ensure we come away with maximum points.

“As long as we do the right things, apply ourselves and play to the strengths of our players in the squad, we should come up with the victory and [score] a couple of goals.

“The aim is also to get a clean sheet because I do think that goal difference will come into play on the final day so to put ourselves in a better position as far as goals scored and the overall goal difference, we’ve got to make sure that we score some and keep a clean sheet.

“We’re looking forward to the game and like I’ve always said to the players, we’ve got to do ourselves proud, our families and obviously our fans who have supported us throughout the whole season, and hopefully come next week against Tuks it will be a day of celebration for everybody concerned.”

La Masia are unbeaten in their last two outings, having recorded a precious 2-1 win over Callies at the Dobsonville Stadium before holding University of Pretoria to a 1-1 draw at the Tuks Stadium.

As such, the team from Gauteng have guaranteed their MFC status for next season as they sit eight points clear of the relegation zone in 13th place.