Richards Bay coach Ronnie Gabriel has stressed the importance of collecting as many points as they can during the first round of the campaign, insisting the second round of the season is always tricky.
Bay lost their league opener 2-1 away to Marumo Gallants last Saturday. The Natal Rich Boys next face provincial rivals Golden Arrows at King Zwelithini Stadium tonight (7.30pm). Arrows also lost their opener 3-1 away to Siwelele later on Saturday.
"It's always good to start well. The example of that is Polokwane City last season, they had a very good start to the season and they went on to have a tough second half of the season, but they still finished seventh, so it's always crucial to start well,'' Gabriel said.
"It's a story that we should learn from as Richards Bay ... if you want to stay in the top eight, start collecting points as early as you can.
"Normally, in the second half of the season it hard to collect points because teams know what they're fighting for ... we managed to do it luckily last season and it doesn't happen often [that you pick yourself up in the second round after a tough start], so we want to do well in the first half of the season."
Bay finished eighth last season, thanks to the change of fortunes in the second round. Gabriel said they aim to remain in the top eight but improve their position.
"We felt very happy to finish eighth last season, especially taking into consideration that we didn't have the best of starts last season. We did very well to claw our way into the top eight as the league progressed. This season, I think it'd be a remarkable achievement if we can remain in the top eight ... we need to improve our position by getting a few extra points,'' Gabriel said.
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