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Stellenbosch coach takes responsibility for rapid changes

football13 September 2025 20:00| © Mzansi Football
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Steve Barker @ gallo Images

Stellenbosch coach Steve Barker said he should take some responsibility for the outcome of Saturday’s MTN8 final, where his side lost 0-3 in extra time to Orlando Pirates at the Mbombela Stadium.

Barker made swift changes in the second half, and one more in extra time, in a bid to try and force the result but said it might have proven different had he delayed the changes.

“You know, whenever you lose the match, you always want to go back and analyse and see where we could have done better,” said Barker.

“I must say, tonight, I felt a little bit that I must take some responsibility for some of the decisions I made in terms of substitutes. In other words, the first person that I need to look at is myself.”

Barker made his changes to try and make a breakthrough before the end of the 90 minutes.

“I just had a feeling we could really go for it. I wanted to be positive, maybe be a little bit much. In hindsight maybe I should have done it differently,” added the Stellenbosch coach.

“But it doesn't take away the fact that, you know, we've competed for 90 minutes. We've just really lost it in extra time.

“They outplayed us in the last 30 minutes and when you have such a big crowd behind you, you know when you get that goal it can be intimidating for the opposition.”

Barker said the sell-out crowd had given Pirates extra motivation, with almost all the crowd behind the Buccaneers.

“It gave them confidence, and then when they moved forward and get the second goal, it became really difficult.

“Obviously, there were things that we can do better and improve but at the same time. I've also have to look at the positives and you know, make sure that we don't forget that to get to a final is not easy.

“I believe we deserved the right to be here but, unfortunately, we just fell at the last hurdle,” Barker added.

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