Cape Town City coach Eric Tinkler says he was pleased with how his team responded in the second half on Saturday, as they came from a goal down to beat Swallows 2-1 despite being down a man.
Tinkler was not happy with his team’s first half performance in their DStv Premiership match at the Cape Town Stadium, but says they showed in the second 45 what they were capable of, despite being down a man.
“I wasn’t very happy with our first half performance,” Tinkler said after the game.
“In my pre match interview, I spoke about the importance of playing at a high intensity, especially at home, playing with grit, playing with aggression, looking to dictate play, and we didn’t do that in that first 25, 30 minutes of the game, we didn’t do that.
“Normally our pressing strategy, we look to apply a high press right from the beginning, put the opposition under pressure, but we didn’t do that either.
“And they were coming out very, very easily, through the phases into our half. And we were always reactive, we were never proactive, always reactive to everything they were doing.
“And because of that, they created the chances they created. Although our goalkeeper made some fantastic saves, we still gifted them a goal, we lose possession in our buildup, a sloppy pass, and a free goal and then they go one nil up.
“And then unfortunately, we lose Mobara. And I think then, tactically that changes everything, because now you’re down to 10 men.
“We come in at halftime, halftime, we look to regroup, and we make some tactical changes now that we down to ten.
“And I think those tactical changes worked really, really well for us in the second half. The spaces in between our lines were no longer there, we were nice and compact, we were well structured and we look to catch them on the break, and we caught them more than once, we caught them four times.
“I think Mpho Makola could have scored a hattrick, and Fagrie could have at least got two. So I thought we deserve what we got in the second half, and I think we deserved to come away as winners.
“So I’m really, really proud of the team, how they responded in the second half, but what it tells me is that what I spoke about before, intensity, that grit that will to win is there. But you can’t switch it like a light, switch it on and off, you got to have it every single game.
“Because there are no easy games in this league. All the games are tough. They fighting for their lives, they come here they’re going to play at a high intensity, they’re going to play with aggression.
“We’ve got to match them and even be better than them, especially at home. And we didn’t do that in the first half. But we showed it in the second, that’s the positive I can take, was how we responded.”
