After putting Kaizer Chiefs to the sword, Stellenbosch FC couldn't find a way past Siwelele FC in a frustrating 0-0 draw. Photo: Backpagepix
Image: Backpagepix
Oh, the irony of South African football!
Of course, such is the nature of this beautiful game that nothing can be taken for granted. No result is guaranteed.
Yet, given the standards set, there are some outcomes that you expect in certain encounters. One of those was for Stellenbosch FC to beat Siwelele FC in their Betway Premiership clash on Tuesday night.
Fresh from a come-from-behind 2-1 victory at Kaizer Chiefs, the smart bet was on Gavin Hunt’s men to continue with their upward trajectory by collecting maximum points out at the Free State Stadium. But alas, the goals dried up for the Cape Winelands team as the match ended goalless.
It is a good-old huge failing in the local game in which clubs often come across as bipolar. They always raise their game to high levels when they play against the traditionally big ones, such as Chiefs and Orlando Pirates, only to drop standards against the ordinary ones.
Such was Stellies’ drive, efficiency and hunger at the FNB Stadium when they put Amakhosi to the sword that you’d have bet your house on them playing Siwelele off the park. And with coach Gavin Hunt having spoken about how their exit from continental competition was somewhat of a blessing in disguise, as it would allow them to focus on moving away from the bottom half of the table, you expected nothing but fireworks.
Instead, they fired blanks, so much so that the scorer of the opener against Chiefs, Langelihle Phili, was ejected off the pitch for the highly experienced Tshegofatso Mabasa. But even the former Golden Boot winner could not send Ricardo Goss scooping the ball from inside his net, leaving Stellies to be content with a single point that saw them remaining glued to 10th position.
With 11 matches to go, Stellies could still make a serious surge up the table, although it would appear that the third-place spot they’d seemingly made theirs (they finished there in the past two seasons) is out of reach. And so it will be that they will not play continental football next season, leaving Hunt to fully focus on an assault on his favoured domestic championship.
He has won the league title with SuperSport United (three times) and Bidvest Wits — two now-defunct clubs renowned for being properly administered but not blessed with top-class players. Stellies are in that mould, and what Hunt will surely strive to do is get the team to finish as high as possible this season so they can believe they have it in them to challenge for the league title in the next one.
They will, however, need to perform with the same intensity and desire as they did against Chiefs in all matches, and stop being a typical local club whose players turn it on for the big ones only.
Next up for Stellies is tricky TS Galaxy, who are having a wretched run, having lost their last five league matches.