Lucky number Nine: Spurs secure first points of the season with victory over Pirates

Scoring a goal as early as the second minute in a football game can be both a gift and a curse, and its true nature becomes evident as the match unfolds.

But when the shrill of referee Moses Kheswa's whistle echoes around Cape Town Stadium as Cape Town Spurs clawed their way to a deserved 2-1 DStv Premiership victory against Orlando Pirates, the sheer relief it brought to the home bench was evident if not electric.

The victory, however, still sees Spurs anchored to the bottom of the log with three points, but three points closer to 15th-place Richards Bay (6 points) and five points adrift of 14th-place Royal AM (8 points).

For the Buccaneers (9 points), though, they are still stagnant in 13th place after eight matches.

Spurs, who, via the PSL promotion/relegation playoffs, earned their right to return to South Africa's top-flight, but had to wait until their ninth league game to record any points as they have gone eight matches without a win or draw.  

After experiencing their seventh loss, the Efstathiou family, who own Spurs, decided to part ways with Shaun Bartlett, the head coach. This decision came less than two months after renewing his contract for successfully guiding the team back to the PSL top flight.

In his first match in the Spurs dugout as interim coach, technical director Sean Connor, who is also searching for the right candidate as Bartlett's replacement, could not have asked for a better start from his charges. The always-creative Keagan Buchanan unleashed a deep cross after the ball was cleared from a corner kick. Pirates' back four of Deon Hotto, Olisa Ndah, Tapelo Xoki and Thabiso Monyane were all caught napping and that allowed Lubeni Haukongo to pounce on the defensive blip, putting a crucial left-footed