Richards Bay coach Pitso Dladla has called for calm for his side amid good results that keep on tumbling for his side in their debut season in the DStv Premiership.
Bay, who were promoted to the PSL top flight last season after gaining promotion through winning the Motsepe Foundation Championship, moved to second on the DStv Premiership table after grabbing a late winner against AmaZulu 1-0 at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Wednesday.
Sakhile Hlongwa blasted the all-important goal in the 92nd minute after Usuthu failed to clear a free kick with the ball dropping well for the big striker.
The delirium was evident after that goal, as the entire technical bench of Bay went on to hug Hlongwa and celebrate with him.
In fairness, the win was deserved for Bay as they also rattled the post through former AmaZulu star attacker Luvuyo Memela.
Bay are now on 17 points after nine matches, two points behind log leaders Mamelodi Sundowns having won five, lost two and drew the other.
“It is important for us to remain grounded. We are new kids on the block, we must respect the league and at the same time we must not go to any game fearing,” said Dladla.
It is three wins out of three against teams from KwaZulu-Natal for Bay having beaten Golden Arrows, Royal AM and now AmaZulu. Impressively, all these wins have come away from home.
The stroke of luck for Bay is that they have only played once away from KZN, which was against Stellenbosch but still won.
Another away game was against Kaizer Chiefs, who they lost, but it was played at the Moses Mabhida Stadium as Amakhosi are using the venue as their alternatives.
“That is what we wanted, to dominate the province and we don’t want to sound in a disrespectful manner,” said Dladla.
“But this is what we said from the beginning that we want to dominate the province. Let us collect more points amongst the five teams.
“Two, what is helping us, we have only played Golden Arrows away, Royal AM and AmaZulu away. But we are treating these games like home matches. It is why we are managing to grind the results.”
While Dladla has called for calm, he has also sent a strong warning to Orlando Pirates, who they are facing this coming weekend at Orlando Stadium.
“Even Orlando Pirates coming up, we don’t fear them, but we respect them as one of the biggest teams, not only in South Africa, but on the continent,” said Dladla.
“During the 90 minutes, we will execute our plan and hopefully we can get positive results.”
