Richards Bay head coach Kaitano Tembo believes a first win is just around the corner as they prepare for the visit of Sekhukhune United to the King Goodwill Zwelithini Stadium on Wednesday evening.
Kick-off is at 7.30pm CAT (SA, GMT+2)
Tembo has picked up just one point from his opening four matches at the helm as the Natal Rich Boyz’s struggles in the DStv Premiership continued, with the 1-0 defeat to Mamelodi Sundowns last Wednesday extending their winless run to 18 matches.
Tembo’s side suffered back-to-back losses against SuperSport United (2-0) and Golden Arrows (2-1) at the start of the season before playing out to a 0-0 draw with AmaZulu.
The Zimbabwean tactician has seen signs that the team is moving in the right direction, however, and is confident that results will soon follow as the players get to grips with his style of play.
“If you look at our previous game against AmaZulu and this game, there are a lot of similarities in terms of the way we played and the approach,” Tembo said.
“I can see that there is a little bit of identity in terms of what we want them to do and the way we want them to play. The response is there and there is a way that we understand as a team how we want to play. I think it is just a matter of time before we start winning matches.
“For us, the best way is to always try and play football that will allow us to win a game. We are chasing a win, so we have no option. Every game that we are playing now, we are playing to win.”
Sekhukhune bounced back from their second defeat of the campaign with a 1-0 victory away to Cape Town City a week ago as they put the disappointing Moroka Swallows incident behind them.
Brandon Truter’s side won at the Athlone Stadium for the second time this season after they beat newly-promoted Cape Town Spurs 2-0 at the same venue earlier this month.
Truter, who hails from the Mother City, was pleased to collect another three points at his home away from home, but felt Babina Noko could have done more on the counter.
“Yeah, I’m from Cape Town so I hate losing in Cape Town. So yeah, Athlone Stadium is our home, especially football in Cape Town, it’s the home of football. It’s nice picking up three points here,” he said.
“But at the same time it wasn’t easy, City is a very good team [and] we’ve done our homework in terms of the ability, in terms of the technical structure.
“Tonight was a really real effort, at times they could have hurt us but played a bit into our hands in the second half, in terms of throwing in the high ball [and Tshepo] Rikhotso had to deal with it and [Daniel] Cardoso as well.
“But yeah, we weren’t as fluid and ruthless in the second half on coming out on counters, legs went a bit in terms of the debutants, [Lebohang] Mabotja good shift from him, [Siphesihle] Mkhize good shift. All in all good results.” –SuperSport