STELLENBOSCH FC coach Steve Barker is relishing his side’s back-to-back matches against Orlando Pirates. The newly promoted Mother City based outfit will play against the Soweto giants in the Telkom Knockout and Absa Premiership home and away in the next two weeks.
Barker and his rookies will visit the Buccaneers in the TKO round of 16 matches in the cup game at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto on Saturday (6pm).
The league game will take place at the Cape Town Stadium on 26 October. Barker’s charges are coming to the biggest township in Mzansi to enjoy themselves. The former AmaTuks and AmaZulu coach insists that the pressure is on Bucs to win the game. A relaxed Barker said: “We are looking forward to the double against Pirates.”
Barker said his boys can’t wait to play at a beautiful pitch at the Orlando Stadium which hosted the MTN8 Cup final between SuperSport United and Highlands Park two weeks ago. He feels that his side has nothing to lose and everything to gain as they are going into the cup tie as the underdogs.
“It’s less pressure on our part. We just must enjoy the occasion and put them under pressure.” The Mother City side seem to have turned the corner just in time for their trip to Soweto. They are unbeaten in their last three games.
They drew their past two league matches against Golden Arrows and Black Leopards before they finally registered their first top-flight win beating Polokwane City 2-0 in Limpopo before the Fifa International break.
Barker sees progress every week with the rookies. “For me it’s been progress each week. Our season seem to be on track. We will be resilient against Pirates.” But if Barker, were to choose which match he would win out of the two, he would go for the league.
He emphasised the importance of doing well in the Premiership: “Obviously if I were to choose, I would go for the league.
“ It’s our bread and butter. Our objective is to survive relegation and maintain our league status. The cup game is all about enjoyment, but the league is all we have to fight for all season.”
