Steve Barker insists that his side are focussing on Tuesday’s DStv Premiership clash against Cape Town Spurs before turning attention to the weekend’s highly-anticipated Carling Knockout semi-final against Richards Bay.

Stellenbosch FC extended their unbeaten run to six matches across all competitions last Saturday when the team from the Cape Winelands recorded a 1-0 league win over AmaZulu at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban.

Match report: Stellies record hard-fought away win over AmaZulu

The Maroons will be returning to Kwa-Zulu Natal this coming weekend to take on Richards in the Carling Knockout semi-final, but first have a tricky league encounter against neighbours Cape Town Spurs to navigate.

“Before the cup game, we have a mid-week match against Cape Town Spurs so we have to concentrate on that first,” Barker said following the win over AmaZulu.

“It’s another big derby match for us and another three points we have to fight for. We have to get past that hurdle and then we can start thinking about the semi-final, but, it obviously does give us confidence that we can get positive results against good teams.”

Barker: Stellies the more dangerous team in transition against AmaZulu

When pressed on the topic of the looming semi-final, Barker revealed that his side’s ability to overcome testing conditions against Usuthu would provide the squad with the belief that they could put in a similar performance against Richards Bay.

“It’s difficult. Cape Town is far away so there’s a lot of travel, and conditions are tough for the players because we don’t get the same humidity we experience here,” he explained.

“You could see that there were patches in the last game where we thought AmaZulu may breakthrough because of our energy levels, and the impact that has on the ability to get to a cross or go with a runner.

“It’s always been a difficult place to come to but we did well and we have to get used to it because hopefully we will be back here for another two matches.

Read | Oura sets out Stellies ambitions after netting match-winner against AmaZulu

We’re here in the weekend against Richards Bay and then, touch wood, we’ll be back here if we can get past that difficult hurdle to take part in the final. It’s nice to have that icebreaker at the stadium and it will give us that confidence that it is repeatable…”

Stellenbosch FC travel to the DHL Cape Town Stadium on Tuesday to take on Cape Town Spurs, with kick-off at 19h30, before taking on Richards Bay at the King Zwelithini Stadium four days later in the Carling Knockout semi-final.