Zothwane faults Richards Bay FC despite beating Chiefs

Richards Bay FC co-coach Papi Zothwane has explained why his team’s huge result against Kaizer Chiefs on Tuesday should not mask the shortcomings.

The Natal Rich Boys stunned the Soweto giants by beating them 1-0 at Umhlathuze Stadium in Durban courtesy of Thulani Gumede’s strike.

#BetwayPrem – RESULTS:

Thulani Gumede’s strike secures victory for @RichardsBayFC_ against @KaizerChiefs.@mswenkoboyz collect maximum points against @TSGalaxy, while @Siwelele_FC and @StellenboschFC share the spoils. pic.twitter.com/73gFnAZ5Nu

— Official PSL (@OfficialPSL) March 3, 2026

The result condemned the visitors to a back-to-back loss having been thrashed 3-0 by rivals Orlando Pirates in a Soweto derby over the weekend.

Coach Cedric Kaze’s men lie in fifth place in the log table, 11 points behind joint leaders Mamalodi Sundowns and Pirates after round 18 of matches played.

For Richards Bay, the huge victory added their points tally to 23 from 19 games, eight placed behind the bottom-placed Magesi FC.

Why Richards Bay co-coach was not happy

Despite collecting the crucial maximum points that sees the Natal Rich Boys pushing closer to the top-flight Betway Premiership band, Zothwane was happy with the result but not the performance.

“I was not happy with our first half. We lost a lot of possession and at half time, we had to fix that, stay a little bit compact and give them the ball so that we could use the spaces behind,” he said.

“…and it worked for us because we managed to string a few passes and it became better in the second half, but I was not overly happy with the performance compared to the way we usually play. However, we cannot take away the win from the team.”

Zothwane urges Richards Bay players to focus

The Pirates’ legend has since urged his players to put behind the huge win over Chiefs and focus on the next game as they strive to steer away to safety from relegation in the Betway Premiership.

“We always want to win our games,” he said. “You are always thinking about who is behind us so we cannot be complacent because of today’s win. We have a big game against Pirates, so we always push to win to get to 30 points as soon as possible, so every game for us is a cup final.”

The next game for Natal Rich Boys will be on the road against the Buccaneers on March 11, 2026, in Johannesburg.