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Royal aim to add Bucs scalp to that of Chiefs

Malesela hints at reshuffle after Stellies 'wake-up call'

Sihle Ndebele Journalist
Deano van Rooyen of Stellenbosch FC and Lesvin Stoffels of Royal AM during the DStv Premiership match between Stellenbosch FC and Royal AM.
Deano van Rooyen of Stellenbosch FC and Lesvin Stoffels of Royal AM during the DStv Premiership match between Stellenbosch FC and Royal AM.
Image: Ashley Vlotman

Just 10 days after stunning Kaizer Chiefs in their season opener in Chatsworth, Royal AM aim to claim the scalp of another Soweto heavyweight, Orlando Pirates.

Royal and Pirates clash in a DStv Premiership tie at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Wednesday at 7.30pm. Both Royal and Pirates are wounded going into this fixture after Royal were defeated by Stellenbosch and Pirates were beaten by Chippa United at the weekend.

Royal co-coach Dan “Dance” Malesela, who has lost five of his seven outings as a tactician against the Sea Robbers, implied some of the players who did duty in their 3-1 thumping at Stellenbosch might miss out on Wednesday night. Malesela saw the drubbing at Stellies as a wake-up call.  

“We exposed ourselves at the back. Maybe we made changes where we shouldn’t have [after their 3-1 win away to Chippa three days earlier]. Maybe we could have stayed with the same team but you are trying to save other players and you are trying to see whether you can get forward and bring in some fresh people to have continuity, but it obviously backfired,” Malesela told SuperSport TV.

“We just have to look at the personnel to figure out if we are using the right people or not. It’s for us to solve, it's not for us to blame anybody and direct blame at something else. We need to fix this thing and fix it very quickly. Sometimes you get a wake-up call early in the season and if it does happen this early, it's good for us.”

Sowetan understands Royal decided to play at Moses Mabhida instead of their Chatsworth venue because they want to familiarise themselves with the 2010 Fifa World Cup stadium as it is where they will be playing their CAF Confederation Cup home games. CAF didn't approve the Chatsworth Stadium to host Confed matches. 

Thwihli Thwahla start their Confed Cup journey by facing Eswatini side Mbabane Highlanders in the preliminary round's first leg away on September 9. 

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