Swallows coach unhappy with schedule as Birds fly down to face City

Brandon Truter has expressed his dissatisfaction with his side’s early-season schedule, after they were forced to play two DStv Premiership matches in four days, before heading off to take on Cape Town City in Sunday’s MTN8 semifinal, first leg.

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The Birds opened their Premiership campaign with a 1-0 home win over Royal AM on Sunday, and then travelled to Durban where they drew 0-0 with AmaZulu on Wednesday.

Now they have to travel again, to the Mother City, where they will take on City on Sunday afternoon at Athlone Stadium.

“We played twice in three days, and one day we were travelling, we couldn’t prepare well for AmaZulu and they had two more days rest than us,” said Truter, shaving a day off the actual gap between Swallows’ two matches, but his point was clear.

“They game took a lot out of the players so putting our best 11 on the park against City is a challenge,” he added, indicating that Khetukuthula Ndlovu, Lebo Mokoena and Mwape Musonda are all slight injury doubts for the game in the Mother City .

Truter, meanwhile, expects a tough game from City in the first leg of the semifinal.

“It is not easy against City, this season they have already scored a number of times and last season they were one of the highest scorers. But we will be mindful of that … and hoping to snatch it (the tie). They do concede, as we saw against Royal AM … there is enough evidence to say we will create chances.

“Having the away leg first is tough, you don’t want to concede so you can come home with a clean slate.”