STELLENBOSCH FC coach Steve Barker says they’ll give Orlando Pirates something to think about when they meet them at Emirates Airline Park Stadium on Saturday (3.30pm).
Barker said, in this bubble where they are unbeaten, they’ll want to reward themselves by getting one over the Soweto giants as the delayed season’s curtain will finally come to an end on Saturday. Stellies have a chance to nestle in the top eight if they beat Bucs and other results go their way, as they are tenth on the log with 36 points from 29 games.
They will take some confidence going to the match as they beat Pirates 1-0 in the reverse fixture in October last year at Cape Town Stadium.
“To do a double over Orlando Pirates will be a massive achievement for us,” said Barker.
“We also have a chance to finish in the top eight and we don’t want to regret but we want to go there and put up a good performance. We are going out guns blazing. We don’t have pressure, we can now play with freedom and we want to reward ourselves for this game.”
It has been a great season for Barker’s side considering the club all their 11 home games were played away in Stellenbosch.
Stellies’ home matches this season have been played at either Athlone Stadium or the Cape Town Stadium.
This came after the PSL denied them a chance to use Idas Valley Stadium, their home venue they used when they won PSL promotion, was deemed inadequate for the league's standards.
However, Danie Craven Stadium in the campus was refurbished and was ready to host games. Stellies were set to face Cape Town City on 4 April but those plans were scuppered following the deadly outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic which saw the PSL suspend the league in mid-March and resumed in the bubble in Gauteng last month.
Barker said they are looking forward to play in the campus next season.
“We have upgraded Danie Craven Stadium at the University of Stellenbosch and we’ll be using that as a home venue next season,” said Barker.
“It made extra tough for us as we started this league with seven games away and that was a tough period but we did come through it.
“We are looking forward to our home stadium next season, making it a tough environment for the opposition teams to come through.”
