On Sunday afternoon, Stellenbosch FC held Mamelodi Sundowns to a 1-1 draw
at Danie Craven Stadium, becoming the first team to deny the reigning
champions maximum points in 16 matches. Iqraam Rayners late penalty helped
Stellies rally back to earn a hard-fought point. After the match, Stellies
head coach Steve Barker praised his side’s tactical performance, noting
that they followed the plan well and deserved a minimum of one point.
Barker said: “For me I think a very accomplished performance by us, I
thought tactically we were really astute today. The unfortunate part is we
know all their tactics well and we denied them spaces, they didn’t have
that many chances and then we conceded, you know from a set-piece and that
was an unfortunate part. So I think we deserved the minimum point, the
fact that we managed to get a point for we was just a great team effort,
tactically really well drilled and executed plan well.”
Sundowns held by Stellenbosch 🤝 pic.twitter.com/L4hrHxMJTA
— SuperSport Football ⚽️ (@SSFootball) March 5, 2023
The coach also noted that the team had a great start in the first 25
minutes of the match, but the conditions made it difficult for them. He
concluded by saying that the point against a strong team was a great
foundation on which to build and continue going forward.
Stellenbosch will now face another tough test when they travel to face
Kaizer Chiefs in the DStv Premiership on Wednesday.
