Natal Rich Boyz aim to end barren run

Richards Bay FC will be hoping to end their six-match winless streak in the DStv Premiership this weekend when they host Moroka Swallows at the King Zwelithini Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Kick-off is at 3:00pm CAT (SA, GMT+2)

Current form

The Natal Rich Boyz are among the poorest performing teams in the league at the moment as they occupy 15th position after 22 games played so far.

Richards Bay go into their next game on the back of a narrow 1-0 loss to log leaders Mamelodi Sundowns, adding to their current six-match winless streak in the DStv Premiership. The KwaZulu-Natal outfit suffered five defeats during this period three of which has been on away soil.

The Dube Birds on the other hand recorded a 1-1 draw with Orlando Pirates last time out, in a game fondly known as the ‘Original Soweto Derby’.

Swallows last tasted victory on the 31st of March, where they bagged a 1-0 win against Cape Town Spurs at the Athlone Stadium. Struggling to find positive form in 13th place, the Dube Birds recorded one win, three draws and the single defeat in their last five matches.

What was said

“Its going to be a different approach but I think if we can defend like that [against Sundowns], we have to work and balance the defensive structure and also try to be creative going forward,” Vusumuzi Vilakazi said regarding the upcoming game.

“We need to try and create goal scoring opportunities and try to fine tune them in terms of converting into goals.

“Against Swallows we will go all out, we’ll be playing at home and we’ll take advantage of that. We’ll dig deep and try to fight and see if we can get something.”

“Ja, second half I thought we didn’t do anything, we were just sitting, why were we sitting, I don’t understand,” Musa Nyatama said in light of his side’s draw with Pirates.

“But we have to learn to protect these leads especially in the second half of the season, we have to learn to protect such leads.”

Players to watch:

Richards Bay: Sanele Barns – The crafty midfielder has been a consistent performer for Richards Bay this season. As the leading scorer for Richards Bay in the league (3), Barns will no doubt be eager to inspire his team during the run-in period of the season.

Moroka Swallows: Lindokuhle Mtshali – The attacker was a star turner during the Dube Birds 1-1 draw with Pirates earlier this week, especially after getting his name on the scoresheet. Posing a threat between the opposition defensive lines, Richards Bay will have to keep a keen eye on the Swallows number 10 this weekend.

Head-to-head:

Last three league games:

2022/23 Richards Bay 1-0 Moroka Swallows

2022/23 Swallows 1-0 Moroka Richards

2023/24 Swallows 0-1 Moroka Richards Bay