Richards Bay FC head coach Brandon Truter has attributed the club’s slump in the league to a ‘lack of quality’ in his squad following the defeat to Orlando Pirates.
Truter’s troops suffered a 1-0 defeat against Pirates in the Betway Premiership at Orlando Stadium on Tuesday night. Evidence Makgopa’s first-half strike was enough for the Buccaneers to collect all the maximum points and maintain their unbeaten run.
Pirates have won all their seven opening matches in the league, which is the club’s best record in the PSL era. The Soweto giants are sitting at the summit of the log standings with 21 points.
On the other hand, Richards Bay have had a turbulent start to the new season under the guidance of Truter. The former AmaZulu FC mentor took over the coaching job at the Natal Rich Boys in the off-season following the surprise departure of Vusumuzi Vilakazi.
Since the start of the new season, the KZN-based side only managed to win one match, drew two and lost four times in seven matches. Richards Bay have been misfiring in front of goal after scoring on one occasion in the league.
WHAT DID BRANDON TRUTER SAY ABOUT RICHARDS BAY FC’S QUALITY?
Speaking to the media after losing to Pirates, Truter bizarrely claimed that his side doesn’t have enough quality to win matches. In the past transfer window, Bay signed big-name players such as Thabiso Kutumela, Siyethemba Sithebe, Keegan Allan, Tlakusani Mthethwa, Thabang Sibanyoni, and Sabelo Radebe, on loan from Kaizer Chiefs.
“I think we lack quality and maturity. If you watched the game tonight, our final decisions were baffling at times for me,” Truter said.
“We have to work these things out at training, and the last couple of weeks, we didn’t have time [to train]. I think we had Sekhukhune United, Stellenbosch FC, Cape Town City FC, and now we had Orlando. On the weekend, we have another game in the semi-final [of the Carling Knockout Cup against Magesi FC].
“In between, we had so much travelling to do; we had two hours of travelling from Richards Bay to Durban, and from there, we had to go to Polokwane and come back.
“But we have the semi-final which brings a different atmosphere, from the theory perspective, there’s fatigue and we have to manage it. In terms of quality and decision making, we are lacking.”
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