Stellenbosch FC coach Steve Barker felt his side’s display was close to being yummy in the description as they brushed aside Royal AM in a DStv Premiership match at Harry Gwala Stadium on Friday.
Barker’s young side ran Royal AM rugged in the second half, scoring three goals to come from behind and celebrate a 3-1 win.
The win has seen them gallop to third on the DStv Premiership table with six points after three matches, having beaten Orlando Pirates in the first game of the season at home.
While Stellies did not have the foothold of the game against Royal AM in the early stages and lost the first half 1-0, they slowly grew into the game and scored three goals in the second half through Deano van Rooyen (53), the impressive Jayden Adams (70) and Iqraam Rayners (72), cancelling it out Sphiwe Cele’s goal (30) to run away victors.
Adams was in the mood, completely running the game and punching holes in the Royal AM’s defence.
When Barker was asked, if he enjoyed the victory, which felt so close to yummy since everything came together nicely, he agreed.
“It is nice when you execute like that and the game-plan comes to fruition,” said Barker with a smile after the game.
“We played well, with tactics in place to execute to get a win. You know traditionally it is never easy to win away against Royal AM and a tough team to play against, so we are happy with the performance and the results.”
They have sent a huge warning to Orlando Pirates ahead of the two-legged MTN8 semi-final next month that, if they are not kept in check, they can cause huge harm, having already defeated them this season.
Stellies have reliably steely defender in Ismail Toure at the back, a clever left-back in Fawaaz Basadien, strongman Sibongiseni Mthethwa in the engine room to mop things when they lose the ball and the brilliant thinker of Andre De Jong, complemented by the speed up top of Devin Titus — a set-up that has made them a good team to watch and they were enjoyable against Royal AM, but Barker wasn’t happy with the first half.
“We had the ball and possession but we didn’t really create enough opportunities to shoot,” reiterated Barker.
“In saying that, they [Royal AM] didn’t really create themselves and we made a bit of an error, trying to sort of get clever with the throw-in and we were caught in transition.
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“When it came to clearance off the line, Iqraam Rayners had a couple of half chances.
“I wasn’t disappointed with the first half, but I was frustrated that came at half-time losing the game 1-0. At least it should have been 0-0.”
