‘Rich Boys’ get ready for ‘Glamour Boys’
THE Premiership is at an embryonic stage, but newly promoted Richards Bay – aka The Natal Rich Boys – are the surprise pacesetters and unbeaten after three rounds.
The Kwazulu-natal side beat Golden Arrows 2-0 in their season-opener derby, then drew 0-0 with Marumo Gallants and last weekend held off Sekhukhune United 1-0.
In contrast, Cape Town City – last season’s runners-up and CAF Champions League contenders – are rock-bottom with defeats in their opening three matches.
City also have the worst defensive record despite having had the services of Hugo Marques, the Portugal-born goalie who has requested to be released by the club, citing a pressing family matter.
It’s a blow for City, who traded heavily on his services last season when he kept 15 clean sheets in all competitions in 28 matches.
That feat saw him earn the ‘Goalkeeper of the Season’ gong at the annual PSL awards function.
The early-season surprises do not end with Richards Bay. Unlike champions Mamelodi Sundowns – who suffered a shock defeat in their second match – unfashionable sides like TS Galaxy, Amazulu and Gallants are undefeated after three rounds.
Galaxy shocked all and sundry by toppling Sundowns on their home turf at Loftus Versfeld in one of the biggest Premiership upsets in years.
Stellenbosch FC are the only other unbeaten side, and their best result to date was a 3-1 win over Royal AM at their Winelands venue, where there have been excellent crowd attendances.
Prior to the Stellenbosch setback, Royal AM recorded back-to-back victories against Kaizer Chiefs and Chippa United in their opening two encounters.
Tonight they will look to slay another Soweto giant when they host Orlando Pirates at the Moses Mabhida Stadium.
It will be a tough assignment for Pirates, who lost on their home turf against Chippa United.
Pirates’ arch-rivals Chiefs are still reeling from a 4-0 hiding at the hands of Sundowns.
They have been spared a midweek match, and will take on coach Pitso Dladla’s tabletoppers Richards Bay on Saturday evening.
It is Chiefs’ home game, and they have opted to play it at Moses Mabhida Stadium (8pm kick-off), which will be more accessible to fans of their KZN opponents.
Perhaps the biggest let-down has been Gavin Hunt’s Supersport United, who have one point from the opening three league games. This is the worst early season return in the club’s Premiership history.
Supersport will have a chance to redeem themselves on Sunday when they host Pirates at the Lucas ‘Masterpieces’ Moripe Stadium in Atteridgeville.
Masandawana are well on their way again, as they showed against Chiefs after an unconvincing start, which they marked with a 2-0 win over City. They have great depth of talent across all positions, and new signing, Ethiopian striker Abubeker Nassir from Ethiopian Coffee, looks like he’ll be a hit in the Premiership.
Sundowns co-coach Rulani Mokwena promised that the team and Nassir will continue to improve. “He still has a lot of work to do, he’s going to improve,” said Mokwena. “The way we play and the way we train, players are bound to improve, and the same expectation is for Nassir.
“Do not overhype (him) because he’s still relatively very young, with incredible potential.
“When we signed him, he went back to Ethiopia and he spent six months there.
“We had to get an English tutor to spend a little bit of time with him so that the level of (his) English can get better, (and) it is at a relatively good standard – although we’ve also now had to hire a translator for him, because we were struggling with some of the instructions and some of the information that we wanted to bring to him. He has incredible potential, surrounded by other incredible players.”