Coaching duo’s watching brief
Sammy Troughton and Steve Barker will be among the keenest spectators when the Absa Premiership draws to a close with a full fixture list on Saturday afternoon.
The duo’s interest will be on the relegation scramble where no less than five teams are still in danger of dropping down to the National First Division.
The Stellenbosch FC coaches will want to have a good look at the teams involved in the battle for survival, because one of them is going to be their opponent for the first match in the promotion play-offs on May 31.
As things stand, it is not clear which team will finish in 15th place in the Premiership and fall into the promotion play-offs with Stellenbosch and Black Leopards.
Speaking after the draw last week, Barker – who is an assistant to Troughton – said they are hoping to fulfil the team’s destiny by getting it promoted to the Premiership.
“We believe it is our destiny. We have to believe and in-between we have to execute and that execution has to happen in those matches. As it stands we’ve got a 33.3% chance of getting there but it’s never easy in the playoffs. There is no room for error when you have four matches and hence we have to start well and show consistency and we also have to be a difficult team to beat,” said Barker, who previously guided University of Pretoria into the Premiership.
“It’s been a good journey and the club deserves to be where they are. If you look at the whole season, we occupied the play-off position more than any other team since the beginning of the season, that is why I believe that our consistency has paid off.
“We still don’t know who our opponents from the Premiership will be. For the next couple of weeks we have to be more than an interested party in the matches that will be taking place in the Premiership,” said Barker.
Any team between Bloemfontein Celtic, Chippa United, Free State Stars, Highlands Park and Baroka FC can still find themselves doomed to automatic relegation to the NFD while another will have to fight it out in the play-offs.