Middendorp delighted with maturing Spurs

Cape Town Spurs’ 1-1 draw with Orlando Pirates on Wednesday means they have now taken seven points in the DStv Premiership from their last three games, a sign of their revival having managed only four from the 16 matches in the league prior to that.

Spurs moved to within two points of second-bottom Richards Bay with the battling draw, earned via a stunning strike from Tanzanian left-back Gabriel Kamagi.

They are still 10 points from Moroka Swallows in absolute safety in 14th place, but for a side that looked dead and buried at the end of last year, they are giving themselves a fighting chance of a play-off place at least.

Ernst Middendorp is looking to repeat his heroics with Maritzburg Utd with Cape Town Spurs 💪

The Urban Warriors earn another point against the Bucs in Orlando 🤝#DStvPrem

— SuperSport Football ⚽️ (@SSFootball) March 6, 2024

“A fully deserved point for us, even if at some point I thought we should’ve done better,” Spurs coach Ernst Middendorp said. “Ironically, we started playing better with our potential when we were 0-1 down, of course 20-25 minutes you get the waves, the pressure, you get the movement from the guys, we didn’t do everything right.

“We corrected it a little bit in the game, I think fully deserved, fully deserved coming back into the game with the one point for us. It’s fantastic.”

Spurs are a mix of youngsters mixed in with some seasons veterans, and Middendorp believes they are starting to gel.

“It’s very difficult because it’s a very young team. You expect it from 21-22 (year olds) but they do listen,” he said.

“They transfer ideas into the game, not jumping out open spaces, particularly centrally, they wait for the right moments. It’s really about doing the right stuff in the right moment and with the right timing, and this team’s chemistry is good.

“We now have in three games the points we were looking for to put the light on in the basement, and I said before the game and I will repeat it, it’s our job on the technical team side not to allow going into a comfort zone.”

Spurs are next up away at high-flying Stellenbosch FC on Saturday, a provincial derby that will be a serious test of their upturn in form.