The Amakhosi held a training session on Thursday morning at the University of Stellenbosch Stadium as their twelve day camp in the Western Cape got underway, Muhsin Ertugral though had to conduct Thursday mornings session without striker Shaun Bartlett. While his teammates were going through their morning drills, Bartlett was resting in his hotel room as he has been suffering all week with a chest infection. The infection has prevented him from training with the rest of the team since the start of the week. With a suspected case of bronchitis the Chiefs medical team took the former Bafana Bafana striker for a check up to a specialist early Thursday afternoon.

Attention needed

Chiefs physiotherapist David Milner who made the 60 odd kilometer journey from Stellenbosch to Cape Town with Shaun, Milner told kaizerchiefs.com that they would be visiting a lung specialist in order to get to a full diagnosis of Shaun’s illness. Milner said “what was of a concern to us was the fact that Shaun had not been responding to the medication that has been prescribed to him. There had been no improvement in his condition over the past few days, so we felt that it was very important for us to get him to a pulmonologist (lung specialist) for a second opinion. The specialist made a number of recommendations amongst them being that he was to rest for the next couple of days”.

Recovery

Bartlett attempted to do some slow jogging on Wednesday afternoon but had to be stop just a few short minutes into a training session as he was having difficulty breathing, “I ran a couple of metres and had to stop because my chest felt like it was tightening up” explained Bartlett. He further added “ I then consulted the medical guys who checked me out and suggested that I stop all forms of exercise. It is better for me take care, so the visit to the specialist was very necessary”.

Bartlett who hails from Cape Town left the Chiefs camp in Stellenbosch mid afternoon on Thursday, and went back to his home in the Mother City where he will get some much needed rest at weekend and is expected to return to Stellenbosch on Monday.

Bocsker battling back

Meanwhile, Milner has complimented goalkeeper Markus Bocsker for the effort he has been putting in, as he recovers from a back and hand operation, which he underwent in November back in his home country Austria. Milner said “ Markus had to go for a very complicated operation I must add that he is doing very well since returning to us last Saturday, he is very determined to get back his fitness. At the moment we are doing mainly aqua exercise - we are working with him in the swimming pool, these exercise are aimed at strengthening his back”.