With Cape Town Spurs lingering at the bottom of the DStv Premiership table, the Urban Warriors will now turn their attention to an in-form Stellenbosch outfit, with the two sides set to do battle at the DHL Stadium on Tuesday evening.
Kick-off is at 7:30pm (SA, GMT+2)
Following a rocky spell between the months of August and September, Steve Barker has finally managed to yield positive results with the Cape Winelands outfit.
Stellies are currently unbeaten in their last four league matches, recording three victories and one stalemate during this period.
Barker’s troops head into their next game on the back of a crucial 1-0 away win over AmaZulu, as Anicet Oura’s 31st’ minute effort separated the two sides at the Moses Mabhida Stadium this past Saturday.
After accumulating 17 points from 12 matches, Stellenbosch occupy 7th spot on the DStv Premiership table. Reflecting on his side’s win over Usuthu, Barker reserved special praises on goalkeeper Sage Stephens, who he felt kept his side in the tie amid tough conditions in Durban.
“Once we won the ball back, we showed the ability to play forward and that led to the goal and to one or two other decent chances which we should have done better with,” Barker said.
“Iqraam Rayners in particular was a bit unlucky not to get us a second which would have made it easier. But, at 1-0 it is always tough, and they threw a lot of numbers forward, getting the ball into the box.
“Sage Stephens had to make some big saves, including the penalty, the free-kick from [Riaan] Hanamub, and the deflected one over the crossbar at the end.
“Everyone has a role to play in the team, and Sage did his role today and kept that clean sheet for us with some massive saves.
“Overall, I’m really proud of the effort, work rate, and commitment of the players under difficult circumstances to just keep pushing, and that’s a sacrifice that we need to continue showing if we want to be successful.”
While Stellies enjoyed a fruitful run of results, Spurs’ woes have continued to pile up in the DStv Premiership.
The Urban Warriors are experiencing the worst start to any PSL season, after registering just one win in 12 outings so far.
As their only positive result this season, Spurs bagged 2-1 win over Orlando Pirates earlier this month, as Lubeni Haukongo and Jarrod Moroole got their names on the scoresheet at the DHL Stadium.
Now under the tutelage of Ernst Middendorp, the German mentor suffered a 2-1 loss against Royal AM in his first game in charge of the club. Reflecting on the defeat, Middendorp has reiterated his desire to turn things around for the Western Cape outfit.
“I will start with it now and we are at seven o’clock training tomorrow and then we will see,” Middendorp said.
“I can’t explain, I try to research, probably I will do it the next night, probably I have nothing better to do. As a team you are one down, probably you have it seen 1000 times, and all of a sudden they do better, all of a sudden they are more active, of course to chasing or whatever in terms of nothing to lose, I don’t know what it is.
“I just asked myself why you cannot then do it immediately with 0-0 and going into it. It’s difficult to explain.
“Sometimes, ja, it’s definitely true what you say, so far I will confirm it, but to sit here now to say why, what and how to work on it. We have to address it, we have to face it, we have to put it to the point, and that’s our doing.”
PLAYERS TO WATCH:
Cape Town Spurs:
Luke Baartman: At the tender age of 17, Baartman has lit up the PSL scene and has continued to impress whenever called upon. The Urban Warriors youth product has shown maturity well beyond his age and will look for every opportunity to hurt the opposition defence.
Stellenbosch:
Iqraam Rayners: The 27-year-old has been Stellies’ main attacker this season, having scored 10 goals in 19 games played so far. However, Rayners only managed to net three times in the DStv Premiership this season and could look to increase his goal tally against a leaky Spurs backline.