Sekhukhune United head coach Eric Tinkler has reacted to his club’s first Betway Premiership defeat to Polokwane City FC on Saturday night.
Babina Noko suffered a 1-0 loss to the Rise and Shine in the Limpopo Derby at the old Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane.
Mokibelo Ramabu scored the only goal of the night in the 32nd minute of the showdown, thanks to Banele Mnguni’s assist.
Sekhukhune came into this encounter as the only team this season yet to taste defeat, having won six games and drawn two from the eight league outings they had played in this campaign.
As a result, Sekhukhune’s defeat against Polokwane City resulted in them ceding the top spot on the table. They now sit in second place with 20 points, just one point shy of log leaders Mamelodi Sundowns, who hold a slim advantage having played an extra game.
WHAT ERIC TINKLER SAID AFTER LOSING TO POLOKWANE CITY FC
Tinkler was visibly disappointed following the loss to PLK City, citing his side’s distinct lack of “killer instinct” in the final third as the primary reason for the defeat
“I’m obviously disappointed that we dropped three points. I’m disappointed with how we conceded the goal because we discussed it ahead of the game. This is a team that doesn’t play pretty football; they look to play it long. There’s no build-up, no creativity, or final phase—it’s just the ball in the box,” said Tinkler.
“So, if you don’t win the second ball, then you’re going to struggle, and that’s how they got their goal, which was their only opportunity of the game, really, for 90 minutes. We struggled in the final third to find solutions. We needed to find solutions in the final third. We needed more creativity. We lacked finer details in the chances that we created.
“We needed to create more chances than they did, and we didn’t have the eagerness that you need in the final third. That final pass wasn’t there. This is something that we need to work on for our upcoming games because a lot of teams are now going to look to play a low block. Therefore, we are going to need solutions to break that low block down.”
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