Richards Bay coach not sounding alarm bells despite relegation threat

13.10.26 FT South African Betway Premiership

Richards Bay

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Mamelodi Sundowns FC

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Richards Bay interim co-coach Siboniso Gumede says they are not sounding alarm bells having emerged as early relegation candidates following a poor start to the 2026/27 campaign.

The Natal Rich Boys succumbed to their fifth defeat of the season in the 4-1 thumping to log leaders Mamelodi Sundowns at Princess Magogo Stadium on Tuesday night.

With three points accumulated in their opening eight fixtures of the current term, the KwaZulu-Natal side precariously sit in 15th place, and have played one game more than fellow relegation candidates.

Gumede bemoaned the manner in which his troops allowed Sundowns to control the proceedings after managing to contain them in the opening exchanges of the encounter.

“I think we started the game well apart from allowing the opponent to score and then after that we dropped a bit. We allowed them to control the game and play at their own tempo,” said the caretaker coach.

"We knew that we're playing against a team that's good on the ball, so we expected our players to crack somewhere somehow. But I was happy with the first-half, we managed to contain Sundowns.

"But we allowed those small mistakes by giving them space and time on the ball where they are good, but the plan was to try to put pressure, don't give them time and space to dictate the game.

The former AmaZulu FC centre-half insists panic buttons are yet to be pressed at the Jomo Biyela-owned club, drawing inspiration from how the team previously came out on top from a similar situation.

“It's not nice [to be in a relegation zone] but we know we've been in this situation before. We changed too many players this season, we have a lot of youngsters, we're still working on finding cohesion of the team,” Gumede added.

"But we are not pressing panic buttons, we once played 11 to 12 games without a win, at least now we have three points. I'm not saying it's a good thing but if I panic as a coach what about the players?

"So, pressure is for us, for them it's to give 150% on the field of play. We understand the pressure as coaches, but so far so good, we're happy with the performance of the boys.

"Slowly but surely we will be fine. It's just one win or two wins and then they will play football with freedom.

Richards Bay will be looking to get off the mark when they visit newly promoted Kruger United at Mbombela Stadium in their next Betway Premiership outing on Saturday, 31 October.

Hlayisani Magoro

Editorfr, en

Football journalist from South Africa covering African football news, exclusive stories and key events while sharing insights with passionate fans of the game.

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