Truter to lead Swallows in PSL return

Swallows FC coach Brandon Truter has been backed to lead the side in the Premier Soccer League next season after guiding the Soweto club to victory in the GladAfrica Championship on Sunday.

Swallows won automatic promotion after a 3-0 victory over Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila, who had already secured third place and a place in the playoffs.

The Soweto side beat second-placed Ajax Cape Town by a single goal, and can to some extent thank their lucky stars as they faced some lacklustre defending from TTM and also profited from dubious officiating to secure the only result that would have seen them claim top spot.

But for Truter, who has won the endorsement of chairman David Mogashoa to lead the team in the top-flight next season, it is a major success having been nine points behind Ajax after the first match following the resumption of the league.

“The technical team was superb, we had to come up with a formula that would work,” Truter said. “We only had a short period of time to get the boys ready to come into this mini-tournament and from the 18 points [available], we walked away with 16 to be crowned champions.

“It was a tough journey, the whole GladAfrica Championship. If you look at the season, Ajax was on top for 14 weeks, Uthongathi was on top for eight weeks. JDR [Stars] were also on top for four or eight weeks.

“We were on top for three days and we snatched it at the end, it is not about how you start, but how you finish. It was a tough road.”

Truter batted away any suggestions that TTM had made it easy for his side.

“It was a tough game for us, TTM are no easy side, no easy customer to deal with. Yes, they had secured the playoff place but it was a live [TV] game, so they couldn’t hide.

“I think when we went 2-0 up they made three chances and that was their best XI on the park, so they made it tough on us.

“As the game progressed we had to make tactical changes from what we can do. Our tactic was always to press them high. We had two turnovers early in the game and we scored, so well done to the guys.

“Towards the end, the word came down that Ajax had scored three, so we needed to not concede a goal, or score one more, and luckily we did.”

Swallows return to the top-flight for the first time since their relegation at the end of the 2014-15 season.