Tough luck for Lavender Hill, promotion for Seaside Spurs

Lonwabo Marele|Published 2 years ago

Lavender Hills Thiago Adams on the defence against Seaside Spurs’ Steven Williams. Picture: Lonwabo Marele

The Safa Cape Town regional third division playoffs came to its business end in fantastic fashion at the William Herbert sports field, in Wynberg, on Saturday.

Seaside Spurs and Crystal Palace were crowned the champions, automatically gaining them promotion to the Safa Western Cape regional third division.

Seaside Spurs won 5-4 on penalties against Two4Joy, from Strand, following a 2-2 draw at the end of the 90 minutes.

Crystal Palace, from Manenberg, beat a stubborn Wynberg St Johns 1-0 to claim victory and promotion.

Lavender Hill’s manager, Hilton Ludick said they have no regrets as they have achieved a great feat this season.

Former professional footballers, Franklin Cale, from Lavender Hill, charged by Erwin Isaacs and Gerald Square from Seaside Spurs, during the last 8 of the Safa Cape Town regional third division playoffs, at the William Herbert sports field, in Wynberg, on Saturday. Picture: Lonwabo Marele

“We have no regrets, we move mountains with what we have. We achieved a great deal knowing where we come from. Basically we started from scratch and still finding our feet. Our under-8s and under-10s remain unbeaten in 2022. Our Premier League team are Champs and as a community club we have a strong base with a positive impact in our community. What more can we wish for beside Gods Grace?” he said.

Ludick said, throughout the ups and downs they faced preparing for the playoffs, a top eight finish is excellent for now.

“Sport, especially soccer can humble you. You can be the best the entire season and find that on a given day discipline is the key to winning and outcomes. We constantly battled the challenges and safety issues in our community like many other clubs. Lack of ball time due to no safe training space compounded our challenges. They had to dig deep to get up, dress up and show up for every match. They won on goal average because of the superior level of football on the Cape Flats,” said Ludick.

Head coach at Seaside Spurs, Bradley Barnes said winning the third division playoffs is all a part of their bigger 2030 vision.

“All honor to the almighty GOD who made all things possible. This was really a personal, faith-filled journey which filtered into the team. As it was all we could depend and rely on throughout the playoffs as we faced many tough challenges both in and off the field but the players trusted our game plans all the way and they deserve the promotion,” said Barnes.