Success on Friday for Stellenbosch in the Cape derby came on the back of a stronger desire to win the game, said victorious coach Steve Barker after a 1-0 triumph over Cape Town City on their return to the Danie Craven Stadium.
Anicet Oura’s 40th minute goal pushed Stellenbosch up to third in the DStv Premiership and handed City their first defeat after a run of six successive league wins.
“I’m super proud and excited about the victory this evening. I think, you know, Cape Town City are a really good team and they were coming off with numerous victories under the belt. We knew that it would be a tough game. But I just felt that if I had to pinpoint what the difference was between the two sides, I thought it was just the desire to actually win the game. The commitment from the Stellenbosch, and tactically, I thought we were really spot on,” said Barker after the game, which followed four matches on the road for the Winelands club.
They had identified City’s strength and outplayed them over the 90 minutes, he added.
“They are a team that want to play out from the back, that want to suck you in and break lines. But the continued pressing and effort to close them down their centre backs, close down the wing backs .. to put pressure on their midfield and (Khanyisa) Mayo upfront meant tactically we were really good.
“It's never easy when your tactics are to press a team and knowing that they are a good ball playing team, because you can lose your shape. But I think the reward from doing it often, and long enough, far outweighed the risk of them playing out and opening up the pitch, which they did on one or two occasions. But fortunately, we dealt with it.
“And then obviously, where we looked really dangerous was when we won the ball back from transition. They do send their wingbacks high and they leave one at the back. We knew we would be able to get turnovers. And then to play the ball in behind, turn them, make them defend, make them sort of chase, I thought we did effectively, which lead to the goal and also other moments where maybe we just a bit unlucky not to score more,” said the Stellenbosch coach.
It will be a major morale booster ahead of next weekend’s Carling Knockout final against TS Galaxy at the Moses Madhida Stadium.
“Today I think we just showed that we've matured as a team, we've grown as a team, there's obviously a lot of confidence, a lot of belief among the squad. You know, it's not easy to get back-to-back victories in the league. It's not easy to keep clean sheets and so that leading into the cup final is obviously good. It was a great, committed, energetic, tactically disciplined performance,” Barker enthused.