Bartlett kept the faith at Tuks

Cape Town - University of Pretoria coach Shaun Bartlett has revealed that he always had faith that his team would avoid automatic relegation.

AmaTuks earned the right to compete in the relegation/promotion play-off after their 2-1 victory over Golden Arrows on Saturday.

Jomo Cosmos were relegated to the NFD after their final-day 3-1 loss to Maritzburg United.

AmaTuks sneaked through courtesy of a superior goal difference after finishing level on 25 points with Cosmos.

"My players showed today the fighting spirit and I'm very proud of them. But now only is the beginning for us, obviously, we've given ourselves a chance and now we have four games to look forward to," Bartlett said after the game.

"The planning started two weeks ago. I've always had faith and belief in these players and they started [repaying] me in the last two weeks.

"For me, I started planning long ago. There was never any doubt in my mind [that we would go down]. Sometimes you have to have faith and believe that things happen for a reason.

"We know for a fact that we are going to go and overcome everything in order to stay in this PSL [Absa Premiership]."