Eric Tinkler expressed his disappointment with Cape Town City’s first half showing in their MTN8 semifinal first leg against Orlando Pirates at the Cape Town Stadium on Wednesday night but was thrilled with the way his side finished the game.
Jayden Rhodes’ 61st minute goal came after a period of sustained pressure and was a deserved equaliser after Pirates had taken a 15th minute lead from teenager Relebogile Mofokeng.
“We knew that this would always be a very, very difficult match. Our record against them hasn't been that brilliant over the years. We knew that they're a team that likes to build from the back, but they are also a team that's extremely dangerous on the transition and balls in behind. All of these things we planned for, we prepared for in terms of how we were going to press them,” said Tinkler.
“The most important factor for me was players going out there and being brave and playing without fear. And I felt in that first half, we didn't do that. Our passing was really, really poor. We gave the ball away cheaply, and then we got caught with that one ball in behind, which was extremely disappointing,” he added in reference to the Pirates goal with Mofokeng catching City captain Thamsanqa Mkhize on the wrong side and being able to score and he cut inside.
“At least the players reacted to a certain degree positively, but our first half performance wasn't great. So I wasn't happy with them. At halftime I spoke to them about our passing, the speed of the ball, our movement off the ball because too often, someone was receiving and not having options available to himself.”
But there was a fundamental change in the second half as City came out firing and dominated.
“We ended up spending majority of the second half in their final third. And we created some half chances, and dominated. But the whole idea was to dominate over 90 minutes. And had we have dominated over 90 minutes, then I think we would have come away with more than just a 1-1 draw.
“But I saw more positives than negatives, and we'll take those positives and show them (to the players).
“Obviously going to the second leg we have to play with the same energy and the same intensity, but with a more positive mentality, knowing that we need to get the away goal. But I think we created enough chances to tell ourselves that we've got a great chance going there,” he added of Saturday’s return leg at the Orlando Stadium.