AmaZulu players understand the position they’re in, says interim coach Ayanda Dlamini
Durban — AmaZulu’s Ayanda Dlamini will take charge of his first match as interim head coach of the club when his side travel to a Cape Town City outfit on the resurgence.
Dlamini, who was assistant to the former man at the helm Romain ‘Fohloza’ Folz, will hope to be the catalyst to a turnaround in results when the two sides collide at the Cape Town Stadium at 5:30 pm.
Usuthu have presented a heap of inconsistency the majority of the season, subjecting them to drift down the DStv premiership standings.
Their run of results at different phases of the season has seen Brandon Truter sacked late last and now Folz moved to a ‘technical director’ role with their top eight hopes dwindling in the balance.
Dlamini, who led the line for Usuthu between 2009 and 2016 has revealed that he and his players remain aware of the underwhelming spot the club currently occupies and have set their minds towards putting it right and first against City.
“We know we’re playing a very very tough game on the weekend, away in Cape Town and it’s never easy to go there,” said Dlamini.
He then added: “The mood is very good. At Least everyone in this group understands the situation that we’re in and we’re all positive because if you look at the log table, we’re number 12 at the moment and if we get the results then the whole thing will change because if you win one game you’re in top eight but if you lose the situation gets worse so we know what’s expected of us and we know what we want.”
Usuthu are just four points off Maritzburg United who occupy the play-off spot in 15th and have placed themselves in great danger with six games of the season to go.
While AmaZulu dropped from week to week, City have surged up the log standing and currently holds the fifth position, six points away from Kaizer Chiefs in fourth.
Pule Ekstein, who has found a new lease of life in the second round of the season believes even though City may have the upper hand in terms of form but AmaZulu are ready for a difficult challenge.
“It’s not going to be easy, knowing how Cape Town City is playing and we saw them in midweek (against Sundowns), so we know they’re playing well and we’re not doing well in the league but we hope everything will go well because we’re preparing very well and we’re ready for the game,” he said.
IOL Sport