Barker On Struggling Stellies

Stellenbosch FC head Steve Barker says his side need to sort out their defensive struggled and has welcomed the international break after a gruelling six matches in 18 days. 

Stellies find themselves in an unfamiliar position, currently sitting in 15th place in the Betway Premiership after 12 matches and just two points above the relegation spot.

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The Cape Winelands side collected just nine points so far, and have only picked up one victory in their last eight league matches.

With two more league games to come before the end of the year, Barker aims to turn things around domestically. 

“Once again disappointing, especially in the way we’ve been conceding goals and the timing of conceding goals,” Barker told the media.

“So a lot of preparations had gone into putting in a big performance at home and just trying to keep the momentum of winning games here at Athlone.

“And then, once you go so early down 1-0 you’re obviously chasing the game. I felt that, because we conceded early, there was enough time throughout the rest of the game to get ourselves back into it, hopefully get an equaliser and then, maybe late in the game, try to get the winning goal.

“I thought that after the goal we conceded there were some good moments thereafter, not clear-cut chances but sort of enough accumulation of half chances that a little bit of luck, we could have got the equaliser before half-time. We didn’t. 

“The half-time message to the players was obviously, we’ve got to just keep believing, keep positive. We’ve shown enough in the first half that we could get ourselves back in, but the key was not to concede, especially in the early part of the second half, because then obviously chasing a two-goal deficit is a lot more difficult than one.

“And unfortunately, we conceded early in the second half, which then just made it really difficult. We tried hard enough, created enough chances, just tried to be as brave as we could in terms of player personnel on the pitch for the last 20, 30 minutes.

“Again, we created some half chances, just right now, it just doesn’t seem to be falling first in front of the goal. Chances are just not going our way, just when it looks like something might happen is a free-kick given against us.

“So right now, difficult to take it again another loss, considering I don’t think we were outplayed in a 2-0 loss type of match, but at the same time, there’s a lot of reflection and a lot of work that needs to be put in by us. 

“We just cannot concede the goals we are. It’s just not acceptable, it’s not good enough for the team that we are and want to strive to be.”

A welcome break…

Barker than emphasised that the upcoming international breaks comes at the right time for this side after they have only won one out of their last eight Betway Premiership fixtures.

“So the break probably comes at a good time,” he continued. 

“Six games in 18 days today with a lot of travel, so it has been a challenging period. But it’s going to continue to be challenging with our CAFCC campaign. So it’s just not about looking for any excuses, it’s about finding solutions to our league form, which has to change with immediate effect. 

“We can’t keep on believing, ‘we’ll get out of it, we’ll get out of it’, and end up coming to the latter part of the season and we’re still not out of it.

“So reflection, refreshment, and two league games before the year’s out, we need to go fight for points in those two matches.”