Loss of seven players hit Aces: Barker

Seven may be considered a lucky number to a great many people -- but not to Black Aces and former Bafana Bafana coach Clive Barker.

After Aces slipped to bottom position in the Premiership log, following their 2-0 defeat against Platinum Stars at the Mbombela Stadium on Wednesday night, Barker pointed to the fact that the Nelspruit-based club had lost seven key players from the squad which finished among the top eight teams last season.

"For a club with our resources that is a huge chunk of manpower," said the coach who guided Bafana Bafana to the African Nations Cup title in 1996.

"And obviously, it will require a period of adjustment in getting the revised squad to fit smoothly into a similar pattern and style of play we had last season."

Barker, nevertheless, remained confident that occupying bottom position in the log would only be a temporary affliction for Aces.

"It's not that we have played badly in our opening games of the season, and we've also come up against some pretty stiff opposition. For example, we had to play Kaizer Chiefs, the form team in the PSL right now, in both the league and the MTN8 competition -- and the second time around in the league it was a pretty close affair.

"Platinum Stars are also one of the better teams in the PSL and losing against them is no disgrace, although we had our chances and conceded an early penalty from which they opened the score and that turned the course of the match."

Barker said there would be no desperate buying on the part of Aces on the transfer market as his existing squad was capable of doing the job.

"I'm confident the players I have in harness will mould into a pretty useful combination and soon begin to move up the log table.

"As for relegation, we're not even thinking about it."

Platinum Stars coach Alan Freese said he had always been confident his team would make a quick recovery following a 2-0 defeat against Chiefs in the first-leg MTN8 semi-final over the week-end.

"A heart-to-heart talk with the players as to what went wrong against Chiefs has put us back on course and we were able to put this to good effect and control the game against Aces," Freese said.

"We're back to fourth place in the log now and that is where Stars belong as one of the championship contenders.

"It has also given us renewed motivation and confidence for the second-leg encounter against Chiefs on Sunday and we're not going to surrender the MTN8 title without a fight.

"Making up a two-goal leeway away from home against Chiefs is a pretty tough undertaking, but we have beaten them in the past and we can do it again."

Freese said he was also delighted by the way new signing Ndumiso Mabena had fitted into the Stars' line-up and hoped the former Orlando Pirates striker would continue his scoring feats against Chiefs.