Zondo slams Royal for taking Swallows ‘lightly’

Royal AM coach Khabo Zondo reckons his players thought they were better than Swallows, hence the Birds humbled them with a 2-0 victory at Dobsonville Stadium on Wednesday. 

Swallows goals were scored by Gregory Damons and Mwape Musonda. Zondo blamed smugness of his charges, especially having advanced to the play-offs of the CAF Confederation Cup by outwitting Zambian side Zesco United last Saturday in the competition’s second preliminary round. Royal will face Congolese giants TP Mazembe in a two-legged tie next month. The winners secure a slot in the group phase of this tournament.

“I think we have to talk about the attitude [of his players]. I think in the minds of the players that was a little bit of that thing of taking Swallows lightly, especially because of where they are on the log [Swallows are 12th on the log, while Royal are 10th with a point separating them]. We played too much in our half and we never looked like we wanted to hurt the opponent. In the first half we didn’t have even a single shot at goal,”' Zondo said.

“I know that we are coming from our Confed Cup assignment... we are coming from Zambia where we guaranteed ourselves a spot in the next round of the Confed Cup but that doesn’t make us better or to think we are better than what we have in the country. Swallows know that they have to fight with everything they have because they are not in a good position and today they fought.”

On the other hand, Swallows caretaker coach Musa Nyatama has now sounded keen to take the reins on a full-time basis. The 35-year-old is still an active player. “One needs to get used to it. I need to take that responsibility. If given the team, I cannot say, ‘no, I’ll stay at home, I don’t want to coach’. So, I need to take responsibility and get used to it [being the coach], and the players are also getting used to me being their coach,” Nyatama said.