What a difference a few months make – it seems like just the other day that Zeca Marques was celebrating Moroka Swallows’ MTN8 triumph over SuperSport United.

But since then the team has been in freefall in the Absa Premiership, especially over the last month.

Sunday’s 2-1 defeat away to Bloemfontein Celtic was a fifth straight defeat for the Soweto side and leaves the Birds third from bottom.

Swallows were by no means outplayed by Phunya Sele Sele, but were the architects of their own downfall, much to the annoyance of Marques.|

“It’s gone for us - the luck. This is a game we should never had lost – two mistakes, two goals. I think we gave this match away, a draw would have been a good result.

“The first goal, I had just spoken to the guys – don’t do the silly things, keep it simple, don’t give the ball away and three minutes later that exactly what we did.

“You look at the first goal, right back giving the ball away, it should have been cleared. Don’t try and be a playmaker.

“The second one was a set-piece, one of those situations. Our goalkeeper got knocked out so there was a foul on him, you don’t stay down,” he said.

The difficulty Marques is having, indeed the same problem many coaches face, is trying to get his players to replicate the things they have learnt on the training ground in a match situation. Additionally, carless mistakes are proving costly.

“Certain things you can’t coach in football,” Marques lamented. “There’s a staying in football, without eggs you can’t make omelettes, and that’s the bottom line.

“You can organise, you can practice, you can do whatever you want, but the players need to take responsibility of their job function.

“We have got to keep believing, At the end of the day we are leaking at the back, we scored a goal, we played god football, but if you are leaking you are going to lose games.”

The Johannesburg outfit are next in action on Wednesday night, when they host Platinum Stars at the Dobsonville Stadium.

The match against Dikwena could be a make or break game for Marques. Following the 3-1 loss to SuperSport United last week, club boss Leon Prins issued the following statement on the club’s website with regards to the manager’s future:

“After an embarrassing performance, gifting SuperSport, who did not even play well on the night, a victory, the head coach, who is a gentleman and only has the best interests of Moroka Swallows at heart, offered to me to step aside to minimise the risk to the club going forward.

“We as management have not accepted this offer; the reason being that we are all intimately involved with what goes on behind the scenes in terms of preparation, strategic analysis, input and instructions to the players, and so on.

“This very talented and capable bunch of players have, for various reasons, not the least the loss of focus after becoming MTN8 champions, let themselves, their supporters, the club and the coaching staff down. We have all resolved to turn it around together.

“In addition, there are only two games before the long Afcon break, and any knee-jerk decision-making in our view would be strategically unsound at this time.” “Everyone at Swallows continues with my full support, but are well-aware that we are on high alert and monitoring the situation closely for the next two games.”