Tiring Stellenbosch need break - Barker

Stellenbosch missed out on a chance to go above Polokwane City and into third place in the Betway Premiership standings on Wednesday after being held to a 1-1 stalemate by bottom-of-the-log TS Galaxy.

Coach Steve Barker said his players struggled to dominate against a team who they had not lost to in 11 previous meetings.

The draw left Stellenbosch in fourth spot with 12 points from seven games, one behind Polokwane City, who lost 2-0 to Mamelodi Sundowns in Pretoria at the same time.

“Probably, a draw was a fair reflection of the game. I think there were moments where we were on top of them, and then there were moments when they were on top of us, applying a lot of pressure,” said Barker, whose players have been given four days off to recuperate.

“We started really well, with the goal that we got, well worked, good goal,’ he said of Fawaaz Basadien’s second-minute opener.

“But then for some sort of reason, we little bit went into our shell and allowed them to come at us and they looked quite threatening without having big chances, but obviously they were putting on a bit of pressure.

“I thought that certain situations in the first half we didn't manage well enough, and we had to improve on that, and we had to just be brave enough and courageous in the second half to get back to keeping possession and playing because that's when we looked at our best.”

Galaxy’s equaliser came from a botched corner clearance that allowed substitute Nkosikhona Radebe to net.

“They had a lot of opportunities in terms of set pieces in and around our final third, but I thought we were dealing with it comfortably enough, until, obviously the goal was scored, and then after that, I thought we finished the stronger team again.

“But yeah, it was just a tough encounter, hard-fought game, evenly contested. We had our moments, they had their moments.”

It was the 17th game of the season for Stellenbosch, who are next up against Stade Malien away in the group phase of the African Confederation Cup.

“We've played a lot of football matches and we’re looking forward to just regenerating, recuperating, just getting ourselves back,” said Barker.