Richards Bay are still chasing a place in next season’s MTN8 top eight and hoping to emulate last season’s heroics when they snatched a top eight berth on the last day of the season.
Coach Ronnie Gabriel, whose side have gone through their last four league games unbeaten, says it is possible, even if they have only four matches left and are four points adrift of eighth-placed Lamontville Golden Arrows.
“In terms of the performance, we're creating numerous gold scoring chances,” insisted Gabriel, co-coach at the club with Papi Zothwane.
“We are dominating games at home. The worrying factor was our away performances. We felt that we could have taken a few more points away from home and last week we went away and managed to get three points against TS Galaxy.
“So, the form is improving. The group is improving, they're growing in leaps and bounds, and must remember that the league is a marathon, it’s not a sprint, and I feel that we're peaking at the right moment.
“It's unheard of in the PSL recently to go four games unbeaten at the end of the season. We've got another four games to go and I believe we’ll be solid, will be structured, will be organised, will be a hard team to beat until the end of the season. The confidence is growing in the group.
Gabriel said the top eight was now a top priority for the club, who still 10th in the Betway Premiership standings.
“That's been one of our targets from the beginning of the season, and the log shows us that mathematically it's possible for us to get into the top eight.
“Looking at our other fixtures without undermining our opponents, I feel we've got an even chance to steal points in those games,” he said
Richards Bay have two home games to come against Polokwane City and Sekhukhune United and play away against relegation strugglers Marumo Gallants and Magesi.
“So we'll continue to push towards our target,” Gabriel added.
“We'll continue to work hard and grind until the end of the season. And I'm sure you remember last season, it took us until the last day of the season to make the top eight with a commendable win away (2-0 against SuperSport United) where we jumped into the top eight.
“So we've got that type of experience leading up to the tail end of the season,” he said.