Tinkler delighted, frustrated after TKO semifinal win

Eric Tinkler was delighted with most aspects of his side’s play, but admits they must improve their finishing following the 2-1 Telkom Knockout semifinal victory over Kaizer Chiefs at the Mbombela Stadium on Sunday.

Maritzburg reached a second ever cup final with a 2-1 success, but spurned so many golden opportunities to score more than Tinkler was left with a sense of frustration at the final whistle.

"I think it would have been a gross injustice if we didn't win this I must be brutally honest. I thought in the first half we performed extremely well, defensively well structured, well organised, and on the transitions we were exceptional," Tinkler said.

"We should have at least come up at halftime 3-0 up, you know with the easy chances that we had. I explained to the players at halftime that I can't be happy with that. We came in at 1-0 and we left the door open for them. We needed to close that door in the first-half.

"Then we started the second half well, we had at least another two, three great opportunities. I warned them at halftime, they [Kaizer Chiefs] came back with a free-kick where their strength is, equalise. But overall we dominated, we looked like a team that was playing at home, not the team playing away against a massive club like Kaizer Chiefs.

"Today we could have really slaughtered them! I thought at least five or six easy chances, it's not like I'm inventing these chances, clear cut chances. That's my disappointment. But very happy at the end of it all to get a 2-1 win, we're going to the final.”

Maritzburg, who lost the Nedbank Cup decider 1-0 to Free State Stars, will now take aim at a first ever major trophy in the final against powerhouse Mamelodi Sundowns in Durban on December 14.

"I said to the players, ‘You want to win this? You have got to beat the best’, and now you're playing against the best which is Mamelodi Sundowns. But I've explained to them in this league anybody can beat anybody on any day, it depends how you apply yourself.

“Today we applied ourselves exceptionally well, that's why we got the result against Chiefs, and that needs to be the same against Mamelodi Sundowns."