Cape Town Spurs coach Shaun Bartlett says his span overcame the “injustice” of a red card on Wednesday to keep their push for PSL promotion on track with a 1-0 win over Casric Stars.
The Urban Warriors had to battle with 10 men for the final 25 minutes at a rainy Athlone Stadium after the NFD’s top goalscorer Ashley Cupido was sent off in the 65th minute.
Cupido was given his marching orders after reacting to a foul from Ellis Rammala, despite being headbutted by the player, and will now miss next Wednesday’s final game against Maritzburg United.
3️⃣ IN A ROW 💪![CDATA[]]>🏻
— Cape Town Spurs FC (@CapeTownSpursFC) June 7, 2023
WE MOVE!!!#CapeTownSpurs#UrbanWarriors#MotsepeFoundationChampionship#OURYOUTHOURFUTURE pic.twitter.com/0ZL6M9Jiyg
But Spurs held their nerve to move six points clear at the top of PSL Promotional Playoffs mini-league, with nine points after three games.
Morne Nel proved the hero with his left-footed first-time effort from the edge of the area in the 72nd minute and needed a last-gaps diving save from Lincoln Vyver to make sure of the points.
And an emotional Bartlett hit out at referee Michael Mosemeng after the game.
Speaking to SuperSport and fighting back tears, he says: We had to fight a lot of things, but I can tell you.. God will take care of the injustice of this league.”
Spurs’ win ends Stars’ hopes of going up, but they can still do the Cape side a favour on Saturday if they take points off visiting Maritzburg.
TEAM P W D L F A Pts
1 CT Spurs 3 3 0 0 3 0 9
2 Maritzburg 2 1 0 1 2 1 3
3 Casric Stars 3 0 0 3 0 3 0
matthew.marcus@inl.co.za