Coach wary of Arrows overreach

NEWLY promoted Lamontville Golden Arrows must immediately begin preparations for their return to the Premier Soccer League, but they must also be careful what sights they set for themselves, coach Shaun Bartlett has warned.

“We’ve got to start right now. We need to help the young players, to guide them through the whole process,” he said after the club secured promotion from the National First Division with one match left of their season.

“It is for the club to now make sure to consolidate and not try and overachieve by going for things we are not ready to go for. We have to add the right players, who fit into the mould and what the club is trying to do for the future.”

Bartlett has seen his side through to a comfortable triumph at the top of the standings as they on Sunday extended their unbeaten run to 15 games, with a late equaliser at home to Cape Town All Stars. The 1-1 draw at Chatsworth Stadium was enough to see Arrows clinch the title.

“It’s never easy to bounce back after one season of rebuilding the whole team, and me obviously as an inexperienced coach in my first head coaching job. It was a challenging season but the support I had contributed to the success we got,” the former Bafana captain said.

“Relegation at the end of last season was the opportunity to rebuild a new team with things I wanted to instill into the team and the results have shown over the last season that the philosophy we implemented brought a consistency that would make any coach happy.

“. . . when we started the season not many people gave me a chance, but I’ve always had confidence in my own ability.”