Only one thing left for Royal to focus on

ROYAL AM’s focus will now fully be on securing second place in the Premiership following their 2-1 Nedbank Cup semi-final elimination at the hands of league champions Mamelodi Sundowns at Chatsworth Stadium on Saturday.

Thwihli Thwahla are in action tomorrow night as they make the short trip to Pietermaritzburg to face Maritzburg United at Harry Gwala Stadium.

The loss to Sundowns was the Durban-based club’s first defeat in all competitions since the start of 2022.

Should they finish second in the league they will qualify for the CAF Champions League next season, an impressive achievement considering that this is only their first season in the top flight.

However, with Kaizer Chiefs now seemingly out of the top-four reckoning, it does look like Royal AM will face a strong challenge from in-form Cape Town City and even potentially fourth placed Orlando Pirates in the race to secure second spot.

Coach John Maduka’s team will also be up against a Maritzburg team that will be fighting to avoid relegation.

Maritzburg are just one point clear of the relegation zone. They are sixth points up on bottom side Baroka FC, but just one point ahead of TS Galaxy, who occupy the PSL promotion-relegation play-offs spot.

In Ernst Middendorp, Maritzburg have a coach who is highly experienced when it comes to navigating relegation battles and this is something that can work to their advantage at this point of the season.

“For us, being in the relegation battle is not a totally new situation,” said Middendorp.

“The technical team is taking things day by day and doing a lot of additional work to make it possible to avoid relegation. We have the experience that is required.”

The German does concede that Royal AM will be favourites to win the KwaZulu-Natal derby.

“Royal AM have been having a fantastic season and they have experienced players like Thabo Matlaba and Ricardo Nascimento,” Middendorp said.

“They have huge confidence and if you go into a position to qualify for the Champions League, it’s a huge achievement. It will be a massive achievement if they qualify for the Champions League.”

Middendorp does not want to set a target for the amount of points he wants his team to achieve. Instead, he wants his troops to view their progress on a game-by-game basis.

“Everybody thinks that 30 points could be safe. I have no idea at the moment what may be enough,” he said.

“At the moment, we are going from game to game. I don’t want to talk about what might be enough. The results are unpredictable at the moment.”