Shaun Bartlett’s early days as a Kaizer Chiefs player have been a real baptism of fire for the former Bafana Bafana hit man, who has so far played six games - all of which have been in pre-season friendly games.

Although all the matches that he has played in have been friendly they have been highly competitive and the opposition thus far have provided him with the perfect opportunity to prepare him for what will surely be a testing campaign.

Shaun impressed all and sundry with his performances in the Vodacom Challenge as he used the experience he had gained plying his trade in English Premier League to torment Manchester United twice in the space of five days.

The former Charlton Athletic man also turned up and proved to be Orlando Pirates Achilles heel, as he scored in his first ever Soweto derby.

He played a vital role in Chiefs victory over their arch rivals and his performance against the Buccaneers turned a number of heads including that of Manchester United Coach Sir Alex Ferguson who was in attendance at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace.

Apart from being taken aback by the brightness of the stadium’s floodlights the esteemed coach described Bartlett’s performance that evening as ‘pretty impressive’. With Sundowns next up Shaun took time out to speak to www.kaizerchiefs.com as he prepares for the Telkom Charity Cup.

KC.COM: Shaun you have had five weeks with your new club mates at The Amakhosi - how has the preseason been thus far:

SB: The acclimatization process for me at Kaizer Chiefs has gone better than I had expected and so far it has really been good.

There have been a few moments in the past month when I was on the tired side and I got the rest I needed which has helped me to recover sufficiently enough to gain the momentum I needed to get back towards my preparation for the season ahead.

As a team, I think the pre season programme has gone well and we have been able to work together well as a unit and get our tactics and other issues right.

KC.COM: When the team beat Manchester United they were really elated. You have tasted success against the red devils before - was this victory just as sweet as your previous successes against them?

SB: I feel beating Manchester United was really good for the team, for our morale and motivation. It gave us the self-belief we needed to help lift us and get us going.

Winning against a team like Manchester United is always nice whether you have done it before or not - it still feels wonderful to beat them.

Some of their players are world famous and have done a lot for the profile of the game in a global context.

For our guys to be on the same field as Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes and come off the better is something we could only have dreamt about, prior to the Vodacom Challenge.

KC.COM: You played in your first Soweto derby a few weeks ago and scored against Pirates, this weekend you get to have a run against another team who will be posing a strong challenge for the title. Are you looking forward to your Telkom Charity Cup encounter against Sundowns?

SB: I am looking forward to that game in more ways than one; firstly playing against Sundowns will be another test I will need to overcome in order to prove my readiness for the season ahead.

Sundowns being the defending PSL champions will make us want to work extra hard for a victory so that we could start off with a bang and what better way than defeating the champions.

This match will be played at the FNB Stadium - it has been a while since I played in front of a sold out FNB Stadium, I remember what a rush it gave me at the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations playing to full house there.

I definitely am looking forward to returning home victorious on Saturday evening.

KC.COM: Are there any of the Sundowns players who give you sleepless nights?

SB: Not really, I don’t think much about individuals. As a team Sundowns need to be respected because of the calibre of players they have in their line up. They are the defending Telkom Charity Cup and PSL Champions.

They own the titles at the moment so far now we need to honour that. When Saturday comes it really will be a whole different ball game.

The only guy I think who will probably want to make things particularly difficult will be David Kannemeyer and more than anything that will be down to our old Cape Town rivalries.

KC.COM: What would winning the Telkom Charity Cup mean for the team?

SB: Apart from the extra win bonus I am not really sure. Jokes’ aside - winning always keeps a team smiling and it helps us maintain a positive outlook. Should we be able to do it by defeating Sundowns and Pirates along the way it will give us a major boost ahead of our Supa8 clash against Golden Arrows next week. At the end of the day who does not enjoy winning, anybody in the world does.

KC.COM: To close off Shaun you began the season playing in the number 29 jersey, you recently swapped to number 17 is there any superstitions related to your chasing of jersey number?

SB: No not at all, I played all my life wearing the number 17 jersey no matter which team I played for and when I signed for Chiefs I used the number 29 shirt.

Recently the kit manager came to me and told me because Rene Richards had left to Wits University on loan for the season - 17 was open and I told him that it was fine by me.

If 17 was not around then I would have stuck to 29, when I played for Bafana Bafana I used to use 17 until Benni McCarthy came around he ceded the number and I played with number nine.

So to me it is really irrelevant what the number on my shirt is as long as I score more goals than 17 I would not have a problem and I don’t think the supporters will either.