Tinkler proven stubborn resistance for Sundowns

Eric Tinkler will take a losing record into Wednesday clash between his Cape Town City side and champions Mamelodi Sundowns but since he has been at the coastal club his teams has proven a thorn in the side for the Brazilians.

The midweek Betway Premiership clash at Lotus Versfeld is the 24th time that Tinkler has coached against Sundowns with five wins, eight draws and 10 losses in the 23 previous encounters.

But he has lost only one of the last six matches he has gone up against Sundowns, which includes four goalless draws.

Tinkler’s first two games as a coach against Sundowns came in his brief eight-game spell as caretaker at Orlando Pirates, when he replaced Roger de Sa in February and March 2014, with a home loss followed by a 1-0 away win just weeks later.

In his second spell in charge at Pirates, he won only one of four games against Sundowns.

That came in extra time away in the Nedbank Cup quarterfinal with Pirates going on to lose to SuperSport United in the 2015 Nedbank Cup.

In his first season at Cape Town City, Tinkler did the double over Sundowns as he took the new club to third place in their maiden season.

He moved to SuperSport the next season and lost 2-0 to Sundowns in his first league match in charge.

His spells at Chippa United and Maritzburg United failed to produce a win over Sundowns, who beat Tinkler’s Maritzburg side 2-1 in the 2019 Telkom Knockout final.

Arguably his best coaching performance against Sundowns came earlier this year when the 1-0 win at Loftus for City denied Sundowns the distinction of becoming the first club to finish a South African league season undefeated.