Stellies coach Barker takes lessons from Stade Malien loss

Stellenbosch FC Steve Barker says there were good lessons to take from their loss against Stade Malien.

This comes after Stellies suffered a 2-0 defeat against the Malian side in the CAF Confederation Cup Group B opener at the Stade de 26 Mars on Wednesday. Haman Mandjan and Daouda Coulibaly scored the goals for Stade Malien.

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Barker was forced to use mainly youngsters for the game because he was missing three of his key players in Lehlohonolo Mojela, Fawaaz Basadien and Ismael Toure.

Mojela was injured, while Basadien didn’t travel with the team due to personal reasons and Toure was serving suspension after he was sent off during the second-round preliminary round match against AS Vita Club.

Even though he was disappointed with the loss, Barker was happy with the performance of his youngsters in the match.

“It’s obviously not the result that we wanted. It was a little bit disappointing. I don’t think they were the better team. A big deflected goal and I think that it was the only chance they created in the first half. We didn’t create much ourselves,” Barker told the media.

“In the second half they stopped playing and that obviously allowed us to have a lot more possession, but we didn’t use it well enough and our final third execution was just not at the good level. It’s hard to believe that we lost today, but I believe that when we go back home, we’ll be able to overturn the result.

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“But it was a very good experience for us because throughout the game we played with players who are under the age of 23 and younger, so a lot of work to be done,” added Barker.

Stellies will next face RS Berkane in their second group game at home next week Sunday. But prior to that, Barker team will play Orlando Pirates in a Betway Premiership match away this coming Sunday.