Papi Zothwane finally gets first win after late Richards Bay drama

The result gives Zothwane his first maximum points after beginning his tenure with draws against TS Galaxy and Stellenbosch. Sekhukhune twice looked in control before Richards Bay fought back to level the scores, only for Ellis Rammala to settle the contest late in the game. With the FIFA international break now approaching, Zothwane says both sides were determined to avoid entering the hiatus without a victory.

"There is pressure every day. We are paid to win games; we are paid to win matches. And obviously, if you aren't winning matches, you have to look at what it is you can do to win matches, and we knew what it is that we could do. Sometimes it doesn't come the way that you expect it to; sometimes it takes a long time. But there is always pressure in football, so for us, it was about how we can get a win because we knew that one way or another, we were going to get a win, but we didn't know how. But because we are going into the FIFA break, we wanted to get maximum points," said Zothwane.

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Zothwane says the difficult nature of the contest was expected, particularly with Richards Bay still searching for their first league victory of the campaign. Sekhukhune had also gone into the match without a win in their previous two Premiership outings, drawing against TS Galaxy and Stellenbosch. Despite admitting he was unhappy with aspects of their performance, especially in a scrappy opening half, Zothwane was pleased his players showed enough character to chase all three points.

The Sekhukhune coach also acknowledged the added difficulty of coming up against a club he only recently left. Zothwane made the move from Richards Bay to Babina Noko earlier in the season, meaning Saturday’s fixture brought him up against familiar faces and a side he knows well. Richards Bay twice threatened to turn the game around after falling two goals behind, with Nqaba Xulu scoring twice in the space of nine minutes to make it 2-all. Zothwane says the quality within the Richards Bay squad made the challenge even tougher.

While Zothwane is relieved to have finally recorded his first win in charge, he insists the significance lies beyond his own personal milestone. The victory moves Sekhukhune onto three wins from their opening seven league matches and keeps them inside the top-eight places. For Zothwane, the immediate priority was to secure the points before the international break and give the squad some momentum going into the hiatus.