Truter: Playing home games away does take its toll
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Brandon Truter has reflected on his team’s biggest challenge at the start of the season. Photo: Gallo Images
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Truter: Playing home games away does take its toll
Aug 20, 2026 – 01:45 pm
By Sipho Mlotha
Chippa United head coach Brandon Truter has made interesting observations regarding the side’s start to the season, having been forced to play home games in foreign territory.
The Chilli Boys are playing some of their home games in KwaZulu-Natal and in Gauteng this season due to renovations and pitch maintenance at both of their home grounds in the Eastern Cape – namely Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium and Buffalo City Stadium.
They hosted Orlando Pirates at the King’s Park Stadium in Durban last week, while using Dobsonville Stadium in Gauteng for other fixtures.
“It does affect us, the amount of traveling we do, and the amount of preparation we don’t get to do, because we spend more time on the road traveling from the coastal to inland. So, it does affect our players and the preparations,” admitted Truter, as he spoke to KickOff.
“So, we don’t have that luxury of training at our stadium; we don’t have that luxury of an extra day or extra preparations because of the traveling. Having to start this way is giving us problems. We’ve drawn two games out of the three. The only game we’ve lost was against the league champions, Orlando Pirates.”
Reflecting on their encounter with Pirates, Truter said his team was competetive for the first hour of the match.
Did You Know?SuperSportBet is best for PSL and Springboks betting fans & mobile-first punters on prepaid data. “They took their half chances they created better than us. That’s the difference. At the moment, I don’t think we are far off. We are close to getting the three points, we are close to being the team that will be able to compete.”
“The amount of preparation it takes affects us, having to play one home game in Dobsonville, play an away game somewhere, then travel again to play our home game in Durban… it does take its toll,” he adds, while promising better results in upcoming games.”
Taking a more optimistic outlook, the former Moroka Swallows coach said their turbulent start won’t last forever.
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“We are hoping to play the Milford [FC] game in East London, but the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium will only be available in September. Results would have been even better if we were playing at home.
“Our first game against Golden Arrows was a game of two halves – the first half was much better than the second half. It was a fair result.
“Against Richards Bay [FC], I feel we should have walked away with three points; it was a goal from 40 meters out. I don’t think many goals like that beat Stanley Nwabali. That’s the only moment Richards Bay really had against us.
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