Stellenbosch FC head coach Steve Barker is looking forward to a return to home soil as his side prepares to face Siwelele FC at Athlone Stadium on Wednesday.

Following consecutive away trips to Bloemfontein and Nelspruit, Stellenbosch FC return to familiar surroundings on Wednesday evening when they welcome Siwelele FC to Athlone Stadium in Cape Town for a Betway Premiership encounter.

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Heading into the mid-week tie, just two points separate 13th-placed Siwelele from 14th-placed Stellenbosch, making the outing a crunch-clash for both sides.

“Firstly, it’s nice to be back at home,” Stellies head coach Steve Barker said ahead of the match.

“We’ve had two good results [against Kaizer Chiefs and Golden Arrows] in our last two matches at Athlone Stadium, so it’s good to be playing in front of our home fans again.

“There’s obviously a short turnaround between matches at the moment, but preparations have been going well, and despite recent results [away from home against Marumo Gallants and TS Galaxy], the mood in the camp is positive.

“We still have the belief and faith in ourselves. Wednesday’s match against Siwelele is a very important match for us, and I’m positive that we can put in a big performance that will hopefully give us the best possible chance to get maximum points.

“Siwelele are a newer name in South African football, but they have a lot of familiar faces in their squad. They’ve not had the easiest of starts to the season either, but they have settled in and are starting to get some good results of their own now.

“They have good individual players in their team, and it’s important for us not to underestimate them. It’s an important game for both clubs, and I’m sure they’ve also done their preparations, so it’s important that we keep working hard on what we do.

“Some of the results have not been forthcoming recently, but our performances have warranted that we should have gotten more from some of the games than what we did, so we just have to keep showing unity, positivity, and togetherness.”

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The Betway Premiership fixture between Stellenbosch FC and Siwelele is scheduled to kick off at 19h30 at Athlone Stadium. The match will be streamed live on SuperSport OTT7 and tickets are available at R40 from Webtickets.