Cape Town City coach Eric Tinkler described their 1-0 victory over Golden Arrows as ‘a scrappy win’ but their record sixth win in a row was enough to take City top of the DStv Premiership.
City moved one point ahead of Mamelodi Sundowns, however, it should be noted that they have played five more games than the reigning champions.
Khanyisa Mayo scored his seventh of the season early in the game to set up a sixth consecutive win for Tinkler’s team – a new club record for streaks.
But despite the result, Tinkler was not too happy with his team’s application after they scored, though admits the low visibility didn’t help matters. A thick mist covered the pitch for much of the second half.
“Ja, a bit scrappy, the weather obviously made it a little bit scrappy, last 20, 25 minutes, I could barely see the players on the field it was so misty,” Tinkler said after the game.
“But the players say on the field it wasn’t so bad. But ja, we made it scrappy to be honest.
“I felt we really, really started the game well, we controlled the game for the first 15, 20 minutes, we scored the goal, and we should have scored another two or three in my humble opinion.
“We stopped playing the brand of football that we spoke about. We were looking now to play a lot more longer passes, more difficult passes, and we started giving the ball away cheap, and that was my complaint to the players at half-time.
“[I told them] ‘Don’t stop doing what you were doing, because what you were doing was working. Be disciplined, stick to the tactical planning, and then you’ll end up winning the game comfortably.’
“But every time you did it to them, they’re gonna hit you on the counter. That’s the only strength that they have, is to play the ball on the counter-attack.
“But I thought we dealt with them very, very well. But we made it difficult and we should never have made it difficult.”
Sundowns finally return to league action this week and will meet third-placed SuperSport United on Wednesday, and if there is a victory for either team, they will move ahead of City. A draw for Sundowns would also see them return to top spot.
