Under pressure Folz hopeful AmaZulu will get better

AmaZulu coach Romain Folz has admitted to feeling pressure following their 2-0 defeat to Royal AM in the KwaZulu-Natal derby at Chatsworth Stadium on Sunday.

The defeat saw Usuthu drop to 12th spot in the DStv Premiership table.

Folz, who replaced Brandon Truter in October, has won only once in his eight matches in charge.

“There is always pressure in every game you play and if I look at the table, we are not where we want to be, but we are not far away as well, so we will be back,” Folz said.

“We have a good squad, [Orlando] Pirates have a good squad and [Kaizer] Chiefs as well, not to mention Mamelodi Sundowns of course. So, a lot of teams have good squads, it's just a matter of finding the right balance.

“There are many things that we need to fix to get better, but I think we will get better.”

Despite the defeat, Folz was encouraged by the performance of Hendrick Ekstein and Thabo Qalinge.

The duo returned to action on Sunday, having been deemed surplus to requirements before the World Cup break and they never featured in any official games.

“I think Ekstein did very well. He was a marvelous player on the field today [Sunday]. He was very dynamic and he was good on the ball,” he said.

“I think Qalinge lacked a little bit of pace. It has been a long time since him not playing at this level, so for an offensive player like that to get the pace back, it will take a couple of games.

“But we are still in the process of doing something. I’m not happy with the results, but we will be back soon and we will do our best in our next match against Kaizer Chiefs on Friday.”

Meanwhile, Royal coach Abram Nteo was pleased with the results and said they would need to build on that for the upcoming matches.

“It was a derby and everyone wanted to win this game, but look, the performance from our game against TS Galaxy was good and we needed to win this one because we have not been winning,” Nteo said.

“I think after this win we can continue winning. We have Maritzburg United next and I’m happy with the performance.”