’23 games to go’, says Bartlett as Spurs set unwanted record

Cape Town Spurs created an unwanted record on Saturday when they lost 3-1 to Cape Town City and became the first South African club to lose seven straight league games at the start of a season.

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Umtata Bush Bucks lost six in a row in the 1999-2000 Premiership and promoted Spurs shared that record going into the Cape Town derby.

Spurs made a great start with Ashley Cupido scoring on three minutes, but City levelled before half-time when Venezuelan Darwin Gonzalez converted a penalty.

Khanyiso Mayo, a son of former South Africa international Patrick Mayo, atoned for wasteful finishing earlier in the match, by scoring twice in the second half.

Victory ended a dismal run by City who, after winning their first two league matches, took just one point from a possible 15 in the next five.

The match pitted 1996 Africa Cup of Nations winners Eric Tinkler (City coach) and Shaun Bartlett (Spurs coach) against each other.

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“We did better when spreading the ball wide. My boys showed character resilience and creativity,” said Tinkler, once the ‘hard man’ of the national team midfield.

Rather than dwell on seven losses, former forward Bartlett said “there are 23 matches to go and a victory on Wednesday (at home to SuperSport United) could make a lot of difference”.

In the only other match, 36-year-old Ndumiso Mabena netted in first-half added time to give Polokwane City a 1-0 home victory over Royal AM.