Cape Town Spurs coach Shaun Bartlett admits it was a “bitter pill to swallow” after they conceded a defeat to Sekhukhune United in their opening match of the DStv Premiership.

The Urban Warriors got their 2023/24 campaign off to a slow start following their narrow 1-0 defeat against TS Galaxy through an own goal by Cohen Stander at the Mbombela Stadium on Sunday.

Spurs failed to bounce back in the second game of the season after they went down 2-0 to Sekhukhune through goals by Edwin Gyimah and Chibuike Ohizu at Athlone Stadium on Wednesday.

Bartlett admits that a few mistakes cost them the match but has vowed that his side will come back strong in their next match.

“For me, it was a bitter pill to swallow,” Bartlett told his club’s official website.

“I thought we did really well in segments of the game but then obviously two mistakes cost us.

“Our boys will have to learn quickly, you can’t make mistakes like that at this level and get away with it. Maybe last season was a different story but at this level you will get punished by a better team.

“I don’t think we had the worst performance, we created opportunities, but we could have done better.”

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