Luckless Stellenbosch need to find an extra gear to return to winning ways, reckons coach Steve Barker after three successive home defeats over the last week snuffed out their early season successes.

The Winelands club had begun the campaign brightly and looked to be counted among the frontrunners as they beat Orlando Pirates in their first game of the season and overcame SuperSport United away to reach the MTN8 semifinals.

But all the advances were lost, when they were beaten by SuperSport United at home, despite leading at halftime, and then lost a second league match to Kaizer Chiefs after having Devon Titus sent off.

An early dismissal – this time for defender Thabo Moloisane – on Sunday cost them any chance of beating Pirates in the first leg of their MTN8 semifinal at the Athlone Stadium.

“We had won three out of four games and got to the cup semifinal. But then after this last week, had we even only just won one and drawn one, we would still have momentum and really a good start to the season,” said Barker, reflecting back on a bust time for the side

“But now having now lost three on the bounce, it's an opportunity to see where we can be a little bit better. I'll have a bit of time to think about it. But just seeing what happened in the three matches, I see ourselves being five, 10 per cent short of the real quality to turn these losses into victories.”

Barker now has a week off during the international break to put his thinking cap on.

“I feel that we're getting close to really competing with everybody in every single match. Now it's just for us to find out where can we just have those 1 per cent improvements in every area. So, a bit of reflection needs to be done, and find a way that we can turn these close encounters into victories.”

He said he would also likely have to play psychologist with the players ahead of their next game away against Lamontville Golden Arrows on September 16.

“It might just be a little bit more emotionally just getting the players back into a good space. Because, you know, they put in big efforts week in and week out and in this instance three times in a week and got no joy from it.

“It's important for them not to doubt themselves and to continue to have a high level of belief that we can still have a really good season. We want to do well in the league. So we need to get back to winning ways as soon as possible,” Barker added.