Richards Bay Coach Eyes Strong Season Finish
Richards Bay co-coach Ronnie Gabriel expressed his satisfaction with his team’s cohesive performance in their victory over Cape Town City this past weekend, emphasizing the importance of finishing the season strongly.
Bay secured a 1-0 win against City, courtesy of a well-executed curling strike from winger Thulani Gumede, earning them all three points at King Zwelithini Stadium on Friday.
This victory propelled the Natal Rich Boyz to 12th place in the Betway Premiership table with 27 points after 25 matches.
Two more wins for the KwaZulu-Natal club would mathematically guarantee their survival outside the relegation zone.
“It was a well-oiled performance; you could see all the departments were functioning in unison,” commented co-coach Gabriel.
“There was a telepathy in our game, there was cohesion in our play, there was synchronization in terms of the way we were pressing, in the way we wanted to recover the ball back quickly after losing it. Our counter-pressing was very good.”
Adding to the positive aspects of the win against City was the return of inspirational club captain Simphiwe Mcineka, who had been sidelined for the previous two matches – defeats against Polokwane City and AmaZulu – due to injury.
“As you say, we are happy with the way they have come together. [Simphiwe] Mcineka comes back after an injury; it was like he hadn’t been out, and maybe he was the missing link in the puzzle in the last two games,” Gabriel added.
“Because we lost those matches from set-plays. We dominated AmaZulu, we created goal-scoring chances; the statistics showed that we created the majority of the goal-scoring chances, but we ended up on the losing side due to set-piece play.
“From the corner, we conceded. Same story against Polokwane City – set-piece play, we conceded goals, and we ended up on the losing end. So, now that all the players are coming back in, we want to end the season on a high note in the last four games.”
Those remaining fixtures include away matches against Mamelodi Sundowns (on 30 April), TS Galaxy (on 4 May), a home game against Golden Arrows (on 17 May), before concluding their unpredictable season against struggling SuperSport United (on 24 May).
When questioned about the number of points they were targeting in these final matches, Gabriel refrained from giving a specific figure.
“We didn’t put a figure to it as yet,” Gabriel stated. “But we decided to take each game as it comes, concentrate more on the performance. We feel the results will take care of themselves.”
