Singular soccer side’s incentive (4)

I believe the answer is:

spur

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'incentive' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'singular soccer side's' is the wordplay.
'singular' becomes 's' (abbreviation sometimes used in dictionaries).
'soccer side's' becomes 'pur' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
's'+'pur'='SPUR'

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(Other definitions for spur that I've seen before include "Strong incentive" , "Stimulate" , "Incite to action" , "Impetus" , "Cowboy's goading instrument" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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