Cape Town - One more PSL Premiership side will end up on the Nedbank Cup scrap heap on Saturday by the time the Stellenbosch - Swallows last-32 clash is decided at Athlone Stadium (start 3pm).
Stellenbosch will be looking to join their National First Division neighbours Cape Town Spurs in the last-16 round. Spurs won 3-0 against Baroka at the same venue on Friday.
In the past three seasons, Stellenbosch bowed out in the opening round, but coach Steve Barker feels that if the team crosses that hurdle on Saturday, they could enjoy a run into the later rounds.
“I think if you get past the first hurdle and into last-16 and then one more game and into the last eight, then I do think the mood will pick up," said Barker.
“For the players, the fact they may have a chance of getting to a final, will galvanise us and push us forward.
"We believe at some stage we have to have a good cup run and reach the semi-final or the final. So, I'm hoping that this will be the season.”
Stellies recently halted a worrying nine-match winless streak in the Premiership with back-to-back victories over Cape Town City and Chippa United, leaving Barker hopeful of a deep cup run to make something of their season.
Barker knows what it takes to reach the championship round. In 2009, Barker guided the second-tier University of Pretoria to the final. AmaTuks narrowly lost 1-0 to the Dube Birds.
Earlier this week, two Premiership sides were eliminated following defeats for Richards Bay and SuperSport United.
Swallows, the Soweto outfit, bowed out to Royal AM in the opening round last season.
Since the arrival of coach Ernst Middendorp Swallows have lost just one of their last five league matches and kept four clean sheets in the process.
Middendorp is also a former winner of the competition with Kaizer Chiefs in 2006 and he guided them to the final once more in 2019 when they lost 1-0 to TS Galaxy.
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He says he is looking to build on an "important win" over Richards Bay and feels his players are slowly making progress when in possession, although he still wants to see an improvement.
"I was absolutely terrified to see our ball possession work that we've been doing now for weeks during training sessions. But it's much better," said Middendorp.
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"But at the beginning of the week, we made it very clear Richards Bay conceded only 10 goals, seven months now into the season and we knew it was not going to be an easy task and at the end, it was an important win for us."
In last week's match against Richards Bay, Middendorp reached a personal milestone. It was the 64-year-old Middendorp's 400th game as a coach in the Premier Soccer League in what is his 15th season in South African football.
IOL Sport