Ernst Middendorp says struggling Cape Town Spurs are still not ‘functioning as a team’ after they lost their 14th game of the season on Sunday, going down 2-0 in the derby against Cape Town City in the final game of 2023.

Spurs remain in last place in the DStv Premiership and Middendorp admitted it is getting tougher and tougher for the club if they are to keep their top flight status, as they sit with four points.

Since the veteran German coach took over, they have drawn one and lost four games and though there were glimpses of improvement in the clash against their neighbours, Spurs were eventually undone by a Relebogile Mokhuoane free kick and a late second goal from Jayden Rhodes.

“In the first 35 minutes we were dominant, and it would not have been unusual if we had been one or two ahead, but in the second half we showed that we are not in this moment a functional as a team.”

He was critical of the decision making by players and termed some selfish for not passing when a teammate had a better opportunity to score
“They had two, possible three possibilities, where a pass to a teammate would have seen a goal. But they thought they were on a padel court playing by themselves. This is not the cohesion I’m talking about. Cohesion is needed in defence, is needed in attacking and is needed in transition but unfortunately, in certain decisive moments, we did not follow the rules of football but rather the rules of padel, where you can do stuff on your own.”

But Middendorp did feel there was progress. “I think we made progress over now five and a half weeks. Certain habits are inside the muscle memory of the team individually and as a collective. I’ve always said that poor or low-level attitude in training session, if it is not consistent leads to poor performance on the field on the weekend. This is in certain moments not acceptable but a direction where we can get it right. The New Year 2024 is standing in front of our door and let’s see.”