Barker Defends Mdaka After Penalty
Stellenbosch coach Steve Barker has praised Omega Mdaka’s performance against Kaizer Chiefs, despite the defender committing a crucial penalty-winning foul.
Stellies began their 2025/26 Betway Premiership campaign with a 2-0 defeat to Chiefs at Athlone Stadium on Sunday. This loss marks the fourth consecutive time Stellenbosch has been beaten by the Glamour Boys.
The match was particularly challenging for Stellenbosch, as they were reduced to ten men early on when Siviwe Nkwali received a red card. In the final minutes of the game, Mdaka’s foul on Ashley Du Preez led to a penalty, which Makabi Lilepo converted for Chiefs’ second goal.
Despite this setback, Barker was impressed with Mdaka’s overall contribution and believes the young player will learn from the experience.
“I feel sorry for Omega. I thought he had a really good, strong performance,” said Barker.
“At the end of the game, 94 minutes into it, it was Ashley Du Preez. He’s a quick, tricky, fast customer, and that was just a bit of error judgment from Omega, but it’s not going to take away from his performance.
“I already told him in the change room, for me, he was one of our men of the match, together with, I thought, he had a really strong performance. We are not a team, I’m not a coach that’s going to hold individuals’ errors to place; we all make mistakes. I can’t take away the overall performance from Omega; I thought it was really good.
“Obviously, what we need to do is just learn a little bit from such situations, maybe not necessary to give a penalty away in that circumstance with Du Preez, basically on the line, not able to really score.
“But Omega is young, he is learning and growing fast, so this will be another lesson learnt for him. I’m sure he’ll bounce back, but I’m really proud of what he’s done this evening.”
When asked if the team was struggling to score, Barker referenced their 3-2 victory against AmaZulu in the MTN8 quarter-final, dismissing the suggestion as “cheap.”
“I don’t know how to answer without being rude. I think it’s a bit saying that after scoring three goals last week,” said Barker.
“I think we created enough chances, hitting the post across the bar, so I wouldn’t say we are short of goals, to be honest. When you don’t score on a game, a league match, you always want to go back and say ‘Where could we have done better to get a goal because, obviously, at the end of the day, goals win matches.”
“So I feel we’ve got enough goals in us, around the team. Bradley Mojela is coming in nicely and got some game time last week. Ashley [Cupido] got goals, so as our new signing, Khanyi.
“So I’m not too worried about that, and if the train continued in three, four, five games, we are not scoring, then obviously I would be looking for some solutions, so I’m not sure, I think we finished on 39 goals last season, so I don’t think it was too bad.”
The Cape Winelands-based side will now prepare for its upcoming clash against Magesi FC at Seshego Stadium on Wednesday (19:30).
