Sekhukhune United head coach Eric Tinkler admitted his side came up with a poor performance against Durban City in their 1-1 draw away from home.
Sekhukhune United managed to walk away with a point in KwaZulu-Natal in a 1-1 draw with City after Tshepo Mashiloane scored deep in the second half to cancel Saziso Magawana’s 78th minute goal.
Babina Noko are sitting in third place with 33 points, 11 points behind Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns.
United have been inconsistant this season and that has raised concern for Tinkler. After collecting four points against Pirates and three points against Kaizer Chiefs but they have dropped regular points against teams from the lower half of the league table.
For the second time in a space 15 days, Tinkler has lamented a poor perfomance from his side, stating that they didn’t start the game well against City – a problem he had already mentioned against Highbury FC and Pretoria University in the Nedbank Cup.
“Definitely a disappointing night for me because I don’t think the performance was good enough from us tonight,” Tinkler told the media.
“The brand of football they played, lots of long balls, we didn’t deal with the first ball; our aerial duels were not enough, communication was not good enough, and our ability to pick up the second balls was not good enough.
“And we made it defensively very difficult for ourselves. When we win the ball, we didn’t show enough composure on the ball, and you start dropping your level and start playing a similar brand to them, but that is not the brand that we play.
“We’re kept giving the ball away, and the pressure keeps mounting. I think in the first 10 to 15 minutes, they must have had five set-plays just outside the box that were all threatening.
“But I thought towards the end of the first half, we started finding our feet a little bit and started getting into the game more. And then at half-time, I explained to the guys that we deal with the first ball a lot better – if you can’t go win it; don’t go, rather pick up the second ball and look to play from there, and then recognize the time and space that you have. Everything is played at a thousand miles an hour, and then you’re giving it away.
“I thought in the second half, we were slightly better, not that we were great, but I thought we were slightly better. They were only looking at playing on the transition, and the goal they scored comes from that.
“The shot isn’t even on target to be honest; the goalkeeper doesn’t really have to make a save; he can just leave it, and they end up taking the lead. So, that changes the whole situation of the game, making it more difficult.”
