Spurs in last chance saloon

Spurs in last chance saloon

Cape Town Spurs are just a draw away from gaining promotion to the DStv Premiership when they face Maritzburg United tomorrow, but the way they have fluffed their lines recently makes them anything but a banker bet.

By Mark Gleeson

The battle to finalise the last place in next season’s DStv Premiership reaches a dramatic finale tomorrow night as Maritzburg United host Cape Town Spurs in the last of the Premier Soccer League’s promotion-relegation playoffs.

The permutations are clear: in order to maintain their top flight status, Maritzburg must win, while Spurs need only a draw to gain promotion.

It promises to be a tightly contested affair. Maritzburg’s status as the higher division side, as well as their status as home team for the game, holds little sway given how poorly they have performed at the Harry Gwala Stadium this season.

It was supposed to be their fortress but they won just four of 15 home matches in the regular league season, also losing at home in the first round of the Nedbank Cup. They did, however, win their previous playoff game at home to Casric Stars.

Maritzburg have a superior goal difference to Spurs, so any margin of victory ensures they finish level on nine points with the Cape Town side and will top the mini log on goal difference, thereby extending their 15-season stay in the top division.

Spurs need to hold out and overcome their reputation as poor travellers. They are again within touching distance of promotion and on this occasion cannot afford failure. They had it in their hands at the end of the regular season when they went into their last match top of the table and needed only to win at home to take the Championship and automatic promotion but duffed it with a wooden performance.

Top-scorer Ashley Cupido is suspended for this game but that allows coach Shaun Bartlett to potentially add an extra midfielder to make it hard for Maritzburg, who must guard against being caught out by the counter attacking speed of Spurs.

Tomorrow also sees the start of the Nations League finals in Europe as hosts Netherlands face World Cup semi-finalists Croatia in Rotterdam. It is followed on Thursday by the second semi-final between Italy and Spain, who are both teams in transition. The winners meet in the final on Sunday.

There are also a full set of qualifiers for the next Africa Cup of Nations finals, including Bafana Bafana’s clash against Morocco at Soccer City on Saturday, as well as two rounds of European Championship preliminaries, with the penchant for a shock or two.