Barker backs Stellies’ five-star Rayners for Footballer of the Season

Steve Barker believes Iqraam Rayners should be under consideration for the Footballer of the Season Award, after the Stellenbosch striker lit up the DStv Premiership on Saturday night with all five goals in a 5-0 thumping of Polokwane City at the Danie Craven Stadium.

The 28 year-old Rayners has been brilliant since re-joining Stellies in January 2023, after an unsuccessful stint at SuperSport United.

On Saturday he became just the second striker in the Premier Soccer League era to score five goals in a single match, after Zambian James Chamanga scored five for Moroka Swallows in a 6-2 win over Platinum Stars in December 2007.

Rayners’ amazing efforts against Rise and Shine also shot him to the top of the DStv Premiership scoring charts, with 13 league goals this season.

“They were five special goals,” said Barker after the match.

“Sometimes in four or five you will get one or two (that are special), but I thought every one was well thought out and well struck, they were quality finishes. He has gone to top goalscorer and for me he is playing himself in contention to be player of the season.”

Rayners has been a key part of an incredible campaign up to now for Stellenbosch, who have already won the Carling Black Label Knockout, are in the semifinals of the Nedbank Cup, and are second in the DStv Premiership, and on target to grab a place in next season’s Caf Champions League.

The striker also put up his hand to be a regular member of Hugo Broos’ Bafana squad in March, scoring and playing superbly in a 3-3 friendly draw with Algeria. On this form, he is certain to be a part of the squad again for the upcoming 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers against Nigeria and Zimbabwe.

Rayners now has 30 goals in 47 appearances in all competitions since returning to Stellenbosch from SuperSport, which highlights even more a strangeness in the fact that it did not work out for him at Matsatsantsa, where he managed just five goals in two-and-a-half seasons.

‘A natural goalscorer’

“It was just a question of him being back in a happy place,” added Barker.

“For me he is a number nine, down the middle, and at SuperSport maybe he wasn’t used as an out-and-out striker.

“When he came back, the way he started, he had a purple patch for six months (in 2023) when he scored goals. He is a natural goalscorer, he thinks – can he shoot now, or will he be blocked, does he need to create a better angle? He has always had that and now with the Bafana call up and coming back, his game has even gone up another level. His link up play has improved a lot.”  

Rayners’ next chance to add to his tally will come when Stellenbosch host Golden Arrows on Wednesday at the Danie Craven Stadium in the DStv Premiership. Following that, on Sunday, they will play Mamelodi Sundowns at the same venue in the Nedbank Cup semifinals.