Since Troughton took over the reigns at the Coastal Stream outfit at the beginning of the year Stars have won all the five games that they have played – four wins in the league and one in the Nedbank Cup.
And at the weekend they surprisingly downed promotion hopefuls Bay United 2-0 in a shock result that should make everyone taking notice.
“The players have responded very well to my instructions and that has lifted the club to where it is now. When I arrived here I had the bonus of finding a bunch of talented players who only needed to be put through the right drills which they have done.
“Now I am glad to say that we are now coming through as a decent team. I am making sure that we follow the game plan at all times while maintaining the culture of giving respect to the opponent. There is never any need to underestimate any opposition because you get three points from all of them, despite their standings on the log,” says Troughton.
When he arrived in January, Stars were stuck near the relegation zone with just a single win in 10 games and the defence leaking like a sieve.
But four league games later Stars are fourth with 19 points.
“After arriving here, I realised that we were conceding too many goals and had to work on tactical discipline at the back. I am satisfied now because since then we have conceded just one goal, which shows that problem has been rectified although we are not over confident.
“However, the job is still very far done because we are currently in a building phase. Next season we can challenge, but this season we have to be realistic as it is a bit too late to get a play-off spot,” he tells snl24.com/kickoff.
Last season Troughton took modest Pretoria University to the play-offs with a youthful squad and at Stars he also has a young team that he is working with while alone on the bench.
“The experienced players in the team are very helpful in this respect. Our Zambian goalkeeper Davies Phiri has taken over the role of keeper coach as I have limited knowledge in that department. Despite not playing regularly Davies is a great guy to work with,” adds Troughton.
The teams that have fallen victim to Stars since Troughton took over are Bay United, Hanover Park (twice), Ikapa Sporting and Western Province United.
