PIETERMARITZBURG, December 20 (Absa Premier League) – Roger Palmgren is in confident mood ahead of Thanda Royal Zulu’s final match of 2008 against Maritzburg United on Sunday, saying that he has “no excuse” for his side not to put up a good showing.
The Amabhubesi won their last match against Moroka Swallows on Wednesday with a come-from-behind 4-2 win and another victory against the Team of Choice could move them into the top eight just short of the halfway stage of the Absa Premier League season.
However, coach Palmgren knows all too well about the capabilities of his opposite number Gordon Igesund, adding that they will be prepared for the clash at Pietermaritzburg’s Woodburn Stadium.
He said: “I’m off course looking forward to this week and I’m always happy when we winning. What I’m most happy about is the way we’re been playing football in the last few games.
“All the games you go into you’re trying to win one way or the other. For this week I have no excuses with suspension or injuries, which is the first time for a very long time.
“They (Maritzburg) are a strong team and have one of the best coaches in the league. We have full respect for them.”
And the Swede has attributed the recent improvement in their overall play to a change to their game plan.
He added: “We changed the system a little bit, trying to play more defensively with numbers back and obviously this worked out well. We are improving a lot.
“We didn’t lose some of the games recently because we played badly, but just because of some circumstances that were out of our control.”
Our boys have just one absentee this week with Sibusiso Hadebe still suspended after his red card against Free States Stars.
United on the other hand have plenty of injuries to contend with as Bryce Aka, Sipho Mngomezulu and Dikilu Bageta are just some of the first-team players missing through injury.
The league new-boys have somewhat struggled so far this season with the second worst defensive and scoring records leaving them just a place above the relegation zone.
Coach Igesund said: “We’re looking forward to the match against Thanda. I have lots of injury problems at the moment, so there are many, many problems for this game. It’s our last match before the break, so we’re looking forward to it.
“Thanda have had some very good results recently. They beat Swallows quite nicely and also played very well against Free State Stars but were unfortunate to lose.
“We’ve experienced some unlucky results as well during the first half of the season, so we’ll try and go well on Sunday.”