Stellenbosch’ play in their 3-0 win away at Cape Town Spurs did completely thrill coach Steve Barker but the emphatic nature of the result was just the tonic he was looking for, particularly with the Carling Knockout semifinal against Richards Bay on the horizon.
Tuesday’s victory saw Stellies climb up three places to fourth in the DStv Premiership and boosts confidence before their meeting against Richards Bay at Umlazi on Saturday to decide a place in the cup final.
“I think the big message of late has been that if we want to be a team that's challenging at the right end of the log table, if we're a team that wants to be challenging to win trophies, it is matches like this where we have to show that sort of champion mentality,” said Barker after goals from Iqraam Rayners, Jayden Adams and Darel Matsheke saw them to 20 points from 13 games.
“On paper we were playing the team at the bottom of the log, on Saturday we’re playing the team that is second bottom. If we don't learn to become champions and winners and put in professional performances and slip up against opposition like Spurs, then we're not on the right track.
“So, it's about creating that mentality among the players that we have the belief and we have the quality. We’re currently in fourth position, we are in a semifinal, hopefully going into a final, we're going onto a bigger task on Saturday.
“But that's the message … don't become complacent, don't ever think we've arrived. We know we are still many, many miles behind a team like (Mamelodi) Sundowns. That's the target, we want to close the gap, week in and week out and these are the type of performances that we need to be putting in every week,” added Barker.
His side took only eight minutes to go ahead at the Cape Town Stadium but Barker said he was not happy with their first half showing.
“We did make it difficult at times, I thought. In the first half, we struggled with the pitch, the ball doesn't really roll as much as you think it does, considering what the pitch looks like.
“So every time we sort of tried to play the midfield or played it square or played it back, we were sort of put under pressure, we’d be forced to play it back to (goalkeeper) Oscarine (Masuluke) and then we would kick it back to them.
“So I don't think we really were at our best in the first 45 minutes. So I wasn't really pleased with the first 45 although obviously we'd had the goal, but in just terms of us losing the ball and been on the back foot more than we had anticipated. Second half, I felt we handled that a lot better, we played a bit more positive, played a bit more forward and tried to sort of get them playing on the back foot, turning the defenders. Also knowing that, as the game wore on, the spaces would open up, as they would have to try and get back into the game and it did. We didn't always capitalise on those chances but I think the last sort of 25 minutes I think the substitutes brought a lot of energy and a lot of impetus to the team,” Barker added.