Stellenbosch FC head coach Steve Barker told the media that he was confident his side would win the Cape Derby, even though they went 2-1 down into half-time.
Stellies ended their nine-match winless run in a fashionable way after beating their arch-rivals Cape Town City by 3-2 at Danie Craven Stadium on Friday night.
City threw away 2-0 lead after Lorenzo Gordinho scored his first goal in the colours of City before Venezuelan international Darwin Gonzalez made it 2-0.
The Cape Winelands side never looked down as 22-year-old Devon Titus scored a few minutes before half-time to give Stellies some hope.
Ten minutes after the break the Western Cape-born striker completed his brace to make 2-2. When it looked like Cape Derby would end as a draw, super-sub Sinethemba Mngomezulu scored the winning goal to claim bragging rights and three points.
Barker, who was under a lot of pressure going into the game, later revealed that he always believed his side were capable of winning the game.
“I think incredible result for us. I think we went down early for four minutes down from a set-piece and a team that is sort of at the bottom of the table that could have just been, the heads could have dropped,” Barker told the media
“But I thought the response in the first half was, it’s probably one of the best performances, I’ve seen by Stellenbosch team to really put pressure, apply pressure the rest of the whole half, a couple of the chances we created, I think they had one or the entries into our half, which then they scored.
“So it was a bit of a travesty to be 2-0 at the stage. I think the goal by Devon Titus just before half-time was, I think that was needed because it just brought us into the change room, one goal down and not two.
“And then the message in the change room at half-time was ‘listen, we’re gonna win this game. There’s no doubt in my mind, we’re not playing for the draw, we’re not going to try and get back to 2-2, we’re going to get 3-2 and we’re going to go on and win the game’. And that was the message to the players.
“They deserve that they’ve worked hard. They’ve been written off, they’ve been touted against but what I’ve never ever seen a lack of commitment and they just continued to show that in the second half and I think second half was a bit of a not as controlled from us as the first half.
“Especially after 2-2, they got back into the game and looked like creating maybe a chance. But I think just sheer determination sheer support from the crowd who really got beyond the team, I think got us over the line and deserve to get the winning.”
