Stellenbosch FC head coach Steve Barker has put aside thoughts of the Carling Knockout final to focus his attention on retaining bragging rights over Cape Town City in Friday’s Cape Derby.

The Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch will play host to the highly-anticipated Cape Derby this Friday where Stellenbosch FC will look to extend their current five-match unbeaten run against their neighbours which dates back to March 2021.

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“We are excited and looking forward to it,” Barker said ahead of the encounter.

“There have always been some tight and competitive matches against our neighbours and both teams have been in good form lately. Obviously their league form of six wins from six is an exceptional return, so we’re looking forward to it.’

“We’re also looking forward to being back at our home ground. We haven’t played here at the Danie Craven Stadium for a while so that is also something to look forward to.”

“Bragging rights are important and factors a lot into it. We recently played Cape Town Spurs and we were fortunately able to win that one, and now our aim is [to do the same against] Cape Town City.

“Derbies bring that little bit of an edge and there will be a big crowd out for both clubs, but we want to give our supporters that joy and happiness and the bragging rights that they deserve.”

Friday’s encounter comes on the back of Stellenbosch FC reaching a first-ever cup final, with a clash against TS Galaxy at Moses Mabhida Stadium on the horizon, but the coach is focussed purely on recording a positive result in the derby.

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“I think it’s a case of starting from zero again,” he said. “It’s two totally separate competitions.

“The message is obviously that it is nice to be in a final, and congratulations to the whole football club and the players for the effort, commitment and quality they have shown to get us there, but that needs to be put on the back-burner.

“We have a massive opportunity on Friday evening to keep climbing up the table and keep racking up the points. We want to do well in the league and to be competing at the top of the table, so matches like this become very, very important for us.

“We aren’t thinking at all about the final, that’s out of the window for now, and the focus is on a big match against Cape Town City on Friday.”

Barker was also quick to give credit to the supporters who travelled for more than 40 hours and over 3000 kilometres to support the team in the recent semi-final, and called on the Maroon army to come out in their numbers again against Cape Town City.

“I think it’s a massive impact that the supporters have,” he concluded.

“We’ve had good support at home where the fans have really got behind the players, and the players enjoy playing in front of the fans. It gives them a bit of extra energy and a boost to reward the fans with a big performance and the three points.

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“My plea is to the fans of Stellenbosch to come out in their numbers. We’ve missed them in the cup games, having played away from home, and we want to thank the supporters who drove 20 or 21-odd hours to watch us in Richards Bay because it was highly appreciated.

“But we’re closer to home now and we want to make sure that we can fill up the stadium with our supporters, and for them to get behind the team.”