Brandon Truter switches focus to well rested Orlando Pirates

Brandon Truter switches focus to well rested Orlando Pirates

Richards Bay have not had much time to celebrate reaching the semi-finals of the Carling Knockout, with coach Brandon Truter admitting he was losing sleep ahead of facing high-flying Orlando Pirates.

The Natal Rich Boys pushed Cape Town City all the way to penalties in the cup tie at the weekend and emerged winners to set up a fixture against Magesi FC at the same venue on Saturday.

But Truter admitted he was “stressed” about having to face Pirates 72 hours later.

"No, I am worried, Pirates didn't play this weekend or midweek. So, they are fresh, we are going to Orlando as well. It's a difficult place to go to especially with the ghost filling the stadium,” Truter said.

“So, we are very mindful about that, we have some concerns in Keegan Allen, he's going for a scan as we speak, it might be a concussion and then we lost Langa as well with the red card.

“So like I said now, we are not a big squad and we rely on the DDC boys that's in there as well. Hats off to Msomi [Sibusiso] who keeps producing these boys."

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Richards Bay are likely to make changes with Keegan Allen a doubt following his head injury and Langelihle Mhlongo sent off against City.

Truter is prepared to give other players a chance.

"It's opened a door for another player to come in and fill that spot now but going there to Orlando you need your best players to manage that. You need your experienced players also to control if the youngsters are playing but we'll make decisions on the squad tomorrow once we have everything there," he explained.

The former AmaZulu, Moroka Swallows and Sekhukhune United coach sees Pirates as genuine title contenders, but is not ruling out an upset from his young squad.

"With the loss against Polokwane from Sundowns, Pirates right there in there as either challengers or genuine contenders about dethroning Sundowns.,” he added.

“So, their belief is there, it's gonna be tough in terms of quality, in terms of being away from home, in terms of the fatigue, in terms of the red card, in terms of the injuries, make no mistake about.

"But in terms of the youngsters, they welcome this challenge and once you put this in front of a youngster, he either sinks or swims but in this case, we saw that they are brave and that's what we like. There's lots of energy and energy and hard work, you can't fault it and you can go with that."