Stellenbosch FC coach Steve Barker has reflected on a tough encounter against Chippa United in the DStv Premiership this past weekend.

The Maroons were forced to share the spoils with the Chilli Boys following a 1-1 draw after Craig Martin cancelled out Antonio Van Wyk’s 42nd minute opener at the Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch.

The draw sees Stellies occupy fifth place on the log with 28 points from 17 games while Chippa are placed 13th with 20 points after 18 matches.

Stellies will be hoping to bounce back when they take on Cape Town City in the next DStv Premiership match at Cape town Stadium on Tuesday, with kick off set for 19:30.

“It was a tough encounter and I think a lot of credit must go to Chippa United because they came out with a lot of energy,” Barker told his club’s official website.

“They have a good team. They’ve got some nice size up-front, in midfield, and with their two centre-backs, they have some good tricky wingers and full-backs who like to get forward, and a big goalkeeper at the back.

“They made it difficult for us and we obviously weren’t at our most fluid, and I think Oscarine [Masuluke] kept us in the game in the beginning with some big, big saves to deny the opposition.

“Then we got the goal with [Antonio] Van Wyk scoring and we were probably a little bit fortunate to come in at half-time with a 1-0 lead because I think a draw was probably a bit more reflective of what happened in the half.

“That gave us something to hold onto though, but there were a couple of things we weren’t doing too well. We weren’t picking up the second ball from [Elmo] Kambindu, who is a handful and was causing us problems.

He added: “Often from set-pieces, they were really strong and causing problems there, so we came out in the second half with the aim to be solid for the first fifteen minutes and with the hope that if we were still leading, they would come at us and we would have chances in transition.

“The red card [for Ismaël Touré] did change the complexion of the game though, and made it a bit more difficult, so we had to make one or two substitutes.

“Unfortunately, [Andre] de Jong had to come off which then took away our ability to play between the lines and receive the ball in pockets.

“It then became a bit of a defensive effort in the last 30-35 minutes with the hope of a set-piece or transition goal, and we had one or two moments like Jayden [Adams’] header near the end.

“We had to repel a lot of their attacks and Oscarine again pulled off another big save for us at the end of the match.”

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