ROYAL Eagles coach Kosta Papic is frustrated by his players’ lack of reliability during games.
The Serbian says his players have lost games needlessly, which has seen Eagles drop to fourth place in the National First Division (NFD) table.
“At training sessions and in practice matches the players are on top of their game. The problem starts when they play real matches – they just don’t perform,” said Papic.
“I really don’t know what causes that.”
Eagles look to have missed out on automatic promotion. Thanda Royal Zulu are comfortably in the lead, 14 points ahead of them.
With another 24 points to play for in eight matches, Papic says he is not about to throw in the towel.
“This is football, you can’t afford to give up. There’s still a lot of points to play for. I understand the odds are favouring Thanda but that doesn’t mean we have to give up the fight.
“We still have to play them (Thanda), so we will have to keep pushing.”
Eagles visit University of Pretoria at Tuks Stadium on Saturday (3pm). Papic said his players were ready and had trained hard for AmaTuks.
He said: “We will see how they perform in this one. We are playing a team that is inconsistent, just like we are, so it’s hard to tell who will have the upper hand.
“I just hope my players will have their playing boots on in this match.”
Even though Eagles look to be out of contention for automatic promotion they are still on course to book a place in the promotion/relegation play-offs.
- Eagles’ neighbours Real Kings United are also in action on Saturday. Kings are away to title-chasers Black Leopards at Thohoyandou Stadium (3pm).
Thanda will be watching this match with great interest. They will be hoping that Kings do them a favour by beating Leopards.
The log leaders get their chance to increase their points tally and lead the next day when they visit Jomo Cosmos at Tsakane Stadium on Sunday (3pm).
On the same day AmaZulu will play host to relegation-threatened Magesi FC at Princess Magogo Stadium (3pm).