Stellenbosch FC head coach Steve Barker says he was left with a bitter taste after former player Iqraam Rayners scored the only goal of the match in their defeat to Mamelodi Sundowns.
Rayners had a difficult period at SuperSport United, where he was not given enough game time. He played 58 games and scored five goals in two and a half seasons and had to switch back to Stellebosch in the middle of the 2022/23 season to revive his career.
The 29-year-old hit the ground running at Stellies, scoring 15 goals in 14 games. After that good performance, he earned a place in the Bafana Bafana squad, and Sundowns roped him in.
Wednesday night was the first time he faced his former team since joining Sundowns and he scored the only goal to win three points for the Yellow nations, leaving a bitter taste in Barker.
“It was a game of two halves, we didn’t play as we should in the first half, just one or two execution issues, a bit of decision-making, and a couple of errors,” Barker said.
“We knew a player like Iqi is clever with his movement behind. Obviously, we conceded, arguably they could’ve had a second before half-time with a couple of chances that Ribeiro had.
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“Obviously it’s not easy, it’s our first campaign at CAF, we only arrived on Monday, we not playing at our Stadium Danie Craven, where we would’ve wanted to play this game but unfortunately the league said the pitch is not in the state it would be.
“So it becomes very frustrating to play these amount of games, people will say it is in Cape Town but we have to get to our SAS home base, travel two, three hours again that is taken out of the game.
“One of your players you had and reignited his career to get into Bafana Bafana squad, to get into his move that he sort of desired to be at the club like Sundowns scores a quality goal as he does leaves a bit of a bitter taste.”
