Despite beating Royal AM on Friday, Cape Town City coach Eric Tinkler feels his men are not yet ready for the roller coaster second half of the 2022/23 DStv Premiership season.
Tinkler is worried his men might struggle to hit the right chords following the mid-season break due to the 2022 Qatar FIFA World Cup.
“There’s been a lot of anxiety leading up to this game,” said Tinkler.
“The mid-season break leaves a lot of doubt, whether the team is ready or not, especially when you finished of the first half with a poor result against Marumo Gallants and obviously getting knocked out of the cup competition.”
The veteran gaffer is, however, happy with the positivity in his camp, albeit the anxiety concerns.
ERIC TINKLER PLEASED WITH POSITIVE ENERGY IN CAMP
“So, it’s been hard work these five weeks trying to bring positivity back into the team,” he added.
“I saw that in the last couple of weeks, a lot of positivity, good intensity, but again we were not sure what we were going to produce on the day.
“And I don’t think we were at our best. Our passing wasn’t great, the weight of our passes and accuracy, we gave away possession easily.
On Friday, it was Bertrand Mani, who thrust Cape Town City ahead before Ruzaigh Gamildien restored parity for Marumo Gallants before the break.
Royal AM held on as they looked set to salvage a point, but Thabo Nodada delivered a sucker punch with a last-gasp goal for Eric Tinkler’s charges.
The former Bafana Bafana star now hopes his team picks up from where they left in their next match against Maritzburg.
Meanwhile, Royal AM will also hope to improve on their accuracy ahead their next assignment versus TS Galaxy on Tuesday.
“If you don’t do your things correctly, you will lose matches the way we lost. We couldn’t focus onathe critical phase of the game right in the end.
“To be honest, we played well. We created those chances, only one aspect and couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net,” said coach Khabo Zondo.
“We delayed and delayed until the opponents blocked those shots. Poor decision-making, to be honest.”
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