After recording seven consecutive losses in the DStv Premiership, Cape Town Spurs will now welcome Gavin Hunt’s SuperSport United on Wednesday night at the Athlone Stadium.
Kick-off is at 7:30pm (SA, GMT+2)
The buzz of Spurs returning to PSL football evaporated swiftly at the beginning of the 2023-24 DStv Premiership campaign, with the Urban Warriors recording seven losses in seven games.
Spurs go into their next game on the back of a 3-1 loss to Cape Town City in the iKapa Derby, which also proved to be the nail in the coffin for Shaun Bartlett’s time at the club as head coach.
Despite reaffirming their support of Bartlett earlier this season, Spurs took to their social media accounts on Monday and confirmed that they had parted ways with the former Charlton Athletic striker.
In turn, Spurs confirmed that former Cape Town City mentor Vasili Manousakis was roped in as their new assistant coach, with new Technical Director Sean Connor taking on the head coach’s role on an interim basis.
“Coach Vasili Manousakis has been appointed as assistant coach to temporary Head Coach (TD) Sean Connor,” Cape Town Spurs said in a statement.
“Cape Town Spurs F.C. wishes coach Vasili much success. Welcome to the Warriors.”
While SuperSport go into their next game on the back of a 4-1 aggregate win over Gaborone United in a CAF Confederations Cup second preliminary round fixture, Matsatsantsa have stuttered in the DStv Premiership of late.
SSU last recorded a 1-0 defeat to Chippa United in the league, while jotting down three wins and one defeat in the four fixtures prior to their game against the Chilli Boys.
Also, SuperSport recorded a win, draw and defeat in their three away games in the DStv Premiership so far, as they make their way down to Cape Town. In fact, the Tshwane giants had a successful outing in their most recent trip to the Western Cape, bagging a 2-1 win over Stellenbosch at the Danie Craven Stadium.
HUNT'S FRUSTRATION
As Hunt returns to the touchline in the league, the decorated coach was left frustrated at not being able to be on the bench in his side’s recent Caf Confederations Cup tie against Gaborone United. Caf recently made it mandatory for head coaches to have a Caf A License or Pro License to sit on the bench.
“It’s very frustrating. I've sat on the bench for the last 25 years, and all of a sudden I can’t sit on the bench,” Hunt said.
“I don’t know what it means, Caf...
“I don’t know why it has changed. I have a Uefa A Licence. I have been sitting on the bench for many years.
“I was in a quarterfinal or semifinal of the (Caf) Champions League at (Kaizer) Chiefs two years ago.
“At Wits and Supersport (during his previous tenure years ago), I sat on the bench, played all the games from the group stages. Now I don’t know what happened.”
PLAYERS TO WATCH:
CAPE TOWN SPURS:
Clayton Daniels: Daniels is currently one of the most experienced players in the PSL and will be a key figure in attempting to get the club back on track again, starting with their fixture against SSU.
SUPERSPORT UNITED:
Etiosa Ighodaro: After bagging a brace in SSU’s win over Gaborone United, Ighodaro will no doubt be keen on getting on the scoresheet yet again this week. While Spurs struggle to keep attackers at bay, Ighodaro's physicality and hard running could be a problem for the opposition defence.
