Steve Barker’s Stellenbosch FC has urged his charges to maintain their good form ahead of the Cape derby against rivals Cape Town City on Saturday to stretch their unbeaten run.
Stellies will be aiming to continue outclassing their rivals after collecting six points from them last season.
Despite City’s poor form and start to the 2022/23 DStv Premiership season, Barker expects a difficult derby match with bragging rights at stake.
Stellies are on high confidence levels after defeating Royal AM 3-1 last time out, while the Citizens are still searching for their first victory of the new season.
“It’s important for us to show consistency going into the next match; I’ve always maintained that it’s not easy in the PSL to win back-to-back games.
“It helps on the log table, so we have an opportunity to go to Cape Town City and try our best to get the maximum points,” Barker told the club media.
“It’s a Cape derby. We play against a team that finished second last season and still have the same players. They got quality around the team.
“They are desperate to get to winning ways. One cannot look at the form and think it’s going to be an easy match.”
“It’s a new match, a new challenge for us. We have to stay grounded and not become complicit against a quality team like them.
“We have to go there with the belief of our recent performances that if we continue to show that consistency, we can get a positive result against them.”
Barker further stated his desire to continue with the unbeaten run, which stretches back to last season. The Cape Town outfit are unbeaten in eight matches now in the league.
“We want to become a hard team to play against and a hard team to beat. We want a good defensive structure and not allow opposition space and time.
“It’s a daily task of working on it vigorously and with a lot of detail.”
“Once you become a hard team to beat, it lays the foundation to win matches. The players have responded to our principles defensively,” he added.
Kickoff at DHL Stadium is at 17:30.
