Posted in News on Aug 27, 2007.
As it was against Cosmos during this corresponding fixture last season that Bartlett found the back of the net for Chiefs for his first official goal for The Amakhosi. For the second consecutive season the former Bafana Bafana captain, his first goal of the season happened to come against Cosmos.
Bartlett’s goal against Cosmos was also his tenth in all competition since becoming a Chiefs player in May last year, having found his footing with what can be best described as a poachers goal on Saturday evening, he has laid the foundation stones for what he is hoping will be a season of many goals for him.
Off the mark
Finding the back of the net for the first time in a season is always a challenge according to Shaun Bartlett, but once one has gotten himself up and running goals will follow, he says, and Bartlett is confident that he can now start finding the back of the net with regularity.
“For me I have throughout my career always found that getting my first goal of any season is always the most difficult one, but once I get onto the score sheet for the first time, things usually get better from that point. I now have my first goal under my belt so that pressure is off me and I believe that the rest will flow form here.”
What of the fact that his opening goal in two consecutive seasons has been scored against the same team, “it did not really cross my mind that my first goal last season was against Cosmos, it is obviously nice to know these kinds of stats. As a striker you see it as a special challenge to score against a team like Cosmos who pride themselves on their defensive abilities, so to score against a very defend-minded team helps to lift your game, especially if you a striker” explained Shaun.
Service Delivery
With a goal to his name for the season, the Chiefs fans and his coach Muhsin Ertugral will be looking towards Shaun Bartlett finding more goals in the coming months, the player himself feels that with the way the team are presently playing, Chiefs should score goals aplenty in the 2007 – 2008 season.
“For the front men to get goals we need to get a good supply of crosses from the rest of the guys and in the past two games if you look properly you will find that enough chances have been created for us, it is now up to the strikers to finish off what has been started.”
Bartlett furthermore believes that Chiefs should have won Saturday evening's clash against Cosmos as he continued on adding, “Whenever you play against a team like Cosmos because of their defensive mindset chances are few and far between. Credit must go to our guys for continuously opening up their defense and it was just unfortunate that one of the many second half chances that came our way did not go in.”
