Publications
Partners
Cape Town - University of Pretoria coach Steve Barker has slated his side's
"terrible" first-half showing against Moroka Swallows on Saturday,
describing it as "the worst 45 minutes of my life".
AmaTuks headed into this weekend's Dobsonville Stadium encounter on the back of a 3-0 win over Ajax Cape Town prior to the international break, but found themselves 1-0 down after just two minutes as Lerato Chabangu pounced on a defensive mistake.
The Dube Birds then went 2-0 up shortly after the break through Felix Obada, and although Tuks responded brilliantly with three goals to secure a 3-2 victory, Barker was still largely unimpressed with his charges.
"We were terrible in the first half. I had to be stern and tough with the players at half time,” said Barker.
“Coming from a good 3-0 win over Ajax Cape Town and then coming to the worst 45 minutes of my life was just unacceptable.
“I had to be tough with the players at half-time, and we became better in the second half, while [Swallows] became terrible. So both teams struggled to adjust to the conditions."
Barker was, however, able to find some praise for the team's battling efforts, adding: "We put them under pressure and I knew that if we can get a goal we could make a come back, as they (Swallows) were struggling.
"We knew they would panic, and they did just that, we were all over them. Credit to the boys; they showed character to come from 2-0 down to end up on the winning side."
AmaTuks headed into this weekend's Dobsonville Stadium encounter on the back of a 3-0 win over Ajax Cape Town prior to the international break, but found themselves 1-0 down after just two minutes as Lerato Chabangu pounced on a defensive mistake.
The Dube Birds then went 2-0 up shortly after the break through Felix Obada, and although Tuks responded brilliantly with three goals to secure a 3-2 victory, Barker was still largely unimpressed with his charges.
"We were terrible in the first half. I had to be stern and tough with the players at half time,” said Barker.
“Coming from a good 3-0 win over Ajax Cape Town and then coming to the worst 45 minutes of my life was just unacceptable.
“I had to be tough with the players at half-time, and we became better in the second half, while [Swallows] became terrible. So both teams struggled to adjust to the conditions."
Barker was, however, able to find some praise for the team's battling efforts, adding: "We put them under pressure and I knew that if we can get a goal we could make a come back, as they (Swallows) were struggling.
"We knew they would panic, and they did just that, we were all over them. Credit to the boys; they showed character to come from 2-0 down to end up on the winning side."
