Richards Bay, CT City to collide in battle to ease woes

Richards Bay will play host to fellow strugglers Cape Town City at the King Goodwill Zwelithini Stadium in the Betway Premiership match on Friday.

Kick-off is at 7:30 pm CAT.

CURRENT FORM

The Natal Rich Boys' struggles in the league continued when they suffered a 1-0 defeat to AmaZulu FC away on 4 April and they are winless in their last two matches, having registered back-to-back defeats.

Richards Bay are placed 13th in the Betway Premiership standings - a point above the relegation zone and they will be desperate for a win over City, which would see the KwaZulu-Natal side move further away from the bottom two spots.

Meanwhile, City extended their winless run to 11 matches in the league when they succumbed to a 2-1 defeat to Sekhukhune United at home on 6 April and it was their second defeat in their last three games.

The Citizens are placed 14th in the Betway Premiership standings - a point above the relegation zone and the Mother City side will also be keen to move further away from the bottom two spots with a win over Richards Bay.

TEAM NEWS

Richards Bay and Cape Town City have no suspension concerns coming into this encounter and they are yet to report injuries in their camp.

WHAT WAS SAID?

Richards Bay coach Papi Zothwane

“We knew approaching the game about where we stand in the relegation zone and when you look at that it looks like we take two steps forward and four steps back. But for me, our players have done well," Zothwane said.

"We've played seven games and remained unbeaten, we're one of the top three teams on form and sometimes things like these happen like AmaZulu coming from three losses and they win the match. We can take positives from the game and build on but as a coach, I'm happy to see players progressing and others getting opportunities.”

Cape Town City coach Diogo Peral

“We need to step up physically and mentally because the confidence is gone," Peral said.

"But I don't think the guys in the last two games showed a lack of will to win, the thing is, when you have not won games for this long and the opposition had 10 good minutes, then you are in trouble. The last two games were better and confidence was better.”

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Yanela Mbuthuma, Richards Bay: With four goals and one assist in the league, the 23-year-old is the Natal Rich Boys' top scorer and he will carry the team's hopes of securing a win over the Citizens.

Darwin Gonzalez, Cape Town City: The Venezuelan attacker is the Citizens' main source of goals in the league, having netted three times and and he could be the player to inspire his side to a win in Durban.

HEAD-TO-HEAD

ALL LEAGUE RESULTS

Season Result Scorers

2022/23 Bay 1-0 City Lakay (og)

2022/23 City 2-0 Bay Mayo 2

2023/24 Bay 1-3 City Barns; Rhodes 2, Mayo

2023/24 City 3-1 Bay Gordinho, Rhodes, Kutumela; Figuareido

2024/25 City 2-1 Bay Soukouna 2; Mbuthuma

LEAGUE RECORD (since 2022/23)

Home

P W D L GF GA

Bay 2 1 0 1 2 3

City 3 3 0 0 7 2

Away

P W D L GF GA

Bay 3 0 0 3 2 7

City 2 1 0 1 3 2

Total

P W D L GF GA

Bay 5 1 0 4 4 10

City 5 4 0 1 10 4