Kaizer Chiefs striker Shaun Bartlett headed off on his summer holidays a happy man as he closed out his first six months with Chiefs in style, as he scored what was the match clinching goal on Wednesday evening as Chiefs rounded off their fixtures for the first half of the 2006 – 2007 season with a 3-2 victory over Santos.
In what has been a remarkable climb for The Amakhosi, which has seen them ascend the PSL table as PSL fixtures for 2006 drew to a close, has been all the more special for Shaun Bartlett, who has found the back of the net on six occasions in his last five league games for Chiefs.
Bartlett’s recent goal flood which included an injury time equalizer against Chiefs arch rivals Orlando Pirates on the 9th of December, in what was the last Soweto Derby to be played at the FNB Stadium in its current form, has seen the former Bafana Bafana hit man score in five consecutive Premier Soccer League games for Chiefs - a feat previously unmatched by any Chiefs players in the eleven seasons of the PSL.
The former Charlton Athletic striker who is currently Chiefs top scorer in the league with seven goals, and by finding his way onto the score sheet in five consecutive games, Bartlett has matched and bettered the achievements of the likes of Collins Mbesuma and the speedy Siyabonga Nkosi, after coming in for much criticism earlier in the season.
When Chiefs were finding the going tough, Bartlett has shrugged off the sceptics and critics and has come into his own recently, and would have preferred to have continued playing matches, and says that although the Christmas break is a welcome one, it has perhaps come at the wrong time.
“At the moment I am happy with the way things are going, obviously I need to keep up the hard work as well as continue to find the goals when we return, for me it would have been a good thing if we did not have this break. The only reason I say that is because not just myself but as a team we got some good momentum going, if we continued playing another couple of games I am confident we could have won them and kept up the pressure on the log leaders” added Bartlett.
Even though he might have preferred the training ground to the beach as the team were hitting the high notes, the Chiefs striker is welcoming the time off and says that he and his team-mates, will have their work cut for them when they resume their league programme on the 6th January.
“From a football point of view continuing with matches would have been advantageous to our league ambitions given our recent form, on the other side this break does give us the opportunity to spend time with our families. When we return next week from the holidays we going to have to work extra hard, once the new year comes in we have a very tough schedule and we need to be well prepared for the five games we have in January” added Bartlett.
Having over come a barrage of criticism from the media in his first six months at Chiefs, Shaun is looking towards making the second half of his first full season with Chiefs just as memorable and successful as the last six weeks of 2006 were, wherein he scored six goals in five games. In just six months as a Chiefs player he has earned himself a place in the history books.
Shaun Bartlett’s six goals in five consecutive PSL matches in 2006 – 2007
1. 11th November 2006: Scores a 90th minute penalty as Chiefs defeat Moroka Swallows 2-0 in a match played behind close doors.
2. 25th November 2006: Opens the scoring in the fifteenth minute for The Amakhosi as Chiefs defeat Black Leopards 3- 1 in Thoyandou.
3. 9th December 2006: The most memorable of them all, scores an injury time header against Orlando Pirates with Chiefs a goal down at the time, as his injury time heroics steal Chiefs a point.
4. 17th December 2006: Scores Chiefs sixth goal in a six one drubbing of Maritzburg United, with a delightful header after meeting David Obua’s pin point cross.
5. 20th December 2006: Opens the scoring against Santos in Chiefs final game of 2006
6. 20th December 2006: Heads in Chiefs third and goal against Santos and his seventh of the 2006 – 2007 season so far
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