Stellies grab draw as City lose
STELLENBOSCH FC coach Steve Barker felt the red card dished out to Morgan Gould on the stroke of half-time during their Premiership clash with Highlands Park at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday was a 50-50 one from his vantage point, saying his centre-back made a good, strong tackle to win the ball in the 0-0 draw.
“Morgan won the ball and just followed through. What do you do once you won the ball you pull your leg back, so it could have gone either way. I think the tackle on Marc van Heerden was similar,” said Barker.
“It did obviously derail us. I think with 11 on the field we were the better unit. The second half was going to be difficult for us. We basically played on the counter, got behind the ball. They didn’t look like scoring and we looked a little more threatening on the break. First half we obviously had the best chance with Waseem Isaacs. But I think the game lacked quality in both final thirds on their behalf as well as ours. That said, once again another committed performance from my boys and we will just continue working hard. Hopefully we will get some reward.”
Isaacs and strike partner Iqraam Rayners had to go it alone once Gould departed the scene and were shut-out by a back four needing to be on guard to repel the threats posed on the counter-attack.
Isaacs, who has four goals to his name, should have added to his tally when he was given time to shoot from the left side of the penalty area, but his low left-footed strike on the run was inches off target, leaving him with his hands on his head. Boy de Jong, in goal for the Cape side, pulled off a couple of great saves from close range as Highlands upped the ante with their numerical advantage. But in the end probably a fair outcome for both sides.
Stellies keep their unbeaten home record intact having scored six points from a possible 12 from four matches made up of a win and three draws.
But the Winelands-based team’s results on the road is a worry with only five points harvested from a possible 21 from seven games. That will be a worry for Barker who said at the start of their campaign that the primary goal was to cement their top-tier status.
The latest log standings show Barker’s team in 14th place on 11 points, four ahead of last-placed Chippa United, who beat AmaZulu on Saturday for their first win of the season. Stellies next play unbeaten pace setters Kaizer Chiefs on November 27 at Cape Town Stadium.
“Looking forward to that one,” said Barker. “We floored Orlando Pirates a couple of games back at the venue, so why not believe we can do the same to Amakhosi in easily the biggest game in the club’s history.”
Meanwhile, Cape Town City went down 2-1 to Black Leopards yesterday.