Stellenbosch bank on the fatigue factor

Rookies Stellenbosch FC hope to capitalise on a fatigued and unfocused Mamelodi Sundowns when they meet in their re-arranged Premier Soccer League fixture at Loftus Versfeld on Wednesday.

“Taking all things into consideration, given they were in Morocco at the weekend and that they are playing a cup final on Saturday, we think it is not a bad time to be taking on Sundowns,” said coach Steve Barker.

“Albeit it will be in Pretoria.”

Sundowns returned on Monday from their African Champions League clash with perennial foe Wydad Casablanca, which ended goalless on Saturday, flying via Paris to get there and back.

This weekend, Pitso Mosimane’s men go up against Maritzburg United in the Telkom Knockout final at Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium.

Wednesday’s league game, which was due to be played at the Cape Town Stadium, had originally been called off after Sundowns requested a postponement in order to better prepare for Saturday’s final.

But then, when they realised there was an opportunity to get Gaston Sirino back from suspension for the final, they asked Stellenbosch if they could put the game back on again.

By that time, however, Stellenbosch had already cancelled the stadium booking and told Sundowns they would happily play, but only if Sundowns made the arrangements and switched home fixtures.

So, Wednesday’s game match is now a Sundowns’ home match game with the return game next year moved to the Cape.

It means Stellenbosch, who sit bottom of the PSL table but with a game in hand, will be playing away for a ninth time away this season while they have only hosted five home games.

“We’ve had a lot of away fixtures. This will be our ninth and we finish the year away to Baroka, so it has been a bit tough on us but we hope that in the second round we can capitalise with a lot more home games,” added Barker.

Stellenbosch’s last game was also away in Tshwane where they held SuperSport United last week.

“That was a big boost for us, especially to bounce back just a few days after Chiefs had beaten us 4-0 at home. And to bounce back against a side of the cailbre of SuperSport,” he said.