Zothwane Praises Players’ Fighting Spirit In Sekhukhune Victory
Richards Bay co-coach Papi Zothwane praised his players for their determined performance in their 2-1 victory against Sekhukhune United at King Zwelithini Stadium on Wednesday.
Zothwane emphasized that his players displayed a greater desire to win than their opponents.
This victory propelled Richards Bay to 12th place in the Betway Premiership table, with 21 points from 20 matches.
“I think it was evident from the first whistle that Richards Bay wanted it more than Sekhukhune. They’ve shown the willingness, even if Sekhukhune scored early, but we kept on pushing them because we knew that if you deny them the space to play, they would struggle. If you deny them opportunities to find Keletso Makgalwa, their wingers, of which those are the dangerous players they have,” said Zothwane.
“I think the players did exceptionally well in terms of the technical plan that we have planned. And we kept on probing, probing but missing chances. Even when we started the second half, we made sure that we didn’t give them space like we did in the first half.
“I think we deserved to win the match based on the chances we’ve created.”
After conceding an early goal in the eighth minute through Chiubuke Ohizu, Zothwane’s priority was to prevent Sekhukhune from extending their lead, as a comeback would become increasingly difficult.
“The only challenge you can have when you’re trailing, and you want to score a goal, the only thing you can try and avoid is your opponent not to get a second goal because it’s going to be a mountain to climb for us to score three goals,” he said.
“So we tried by all means to make sure that they play far from our post because they are deadly when playing closer to our post. We knew that we were going to score, it was just a matter of when and how.”
Having experienced the playoffs last season, Zothwane stressed their determination to avoid a repeat.
“One thing with our team, we know the experiences of playing playoffs, it is not a nice thing. I don’t think any team wants to be part of those playoffs.
“I think the effort of everyone within the setup of the team, we’re working extremely hard to make sure we don’t go back to the playoffs.
“And it’s not easy, we’ve never gone out of relegation zone. We still have 10 games to play, but we’re pushing extremely hard that when we’re left with at least five games we can breathe and say we’re not going to the playoffs.”
The Natal Rich Boys are now focused on widening the gap between themselves and Magesi when they meet at Seshego Stadium on Tuesday (19:30).
