Cape Town City head coach Eric Tinkler was pleased with his team’s 5-1 DStv Premiership win against Baroka on Sunday, and said the scoreline could have been bigger.
Both Baroka and City ended with ten men in the game, but it was City who dominated the second half, scoring five goals in the last 45 to move up to fourth on the table.
Tinkler was delighted with the win, and while they trailing at half time, he felt his team was always in the game, and he was confident they would turn things around.
“I thought we started the game extremely well, we could have scored practically in the first 30 seconds of the game,” Tinkler told the club’s media department.
“Beautiful cross in and Mayo getting on the end of it and the keeper making a fantastic save. And we created several chances after that.
“But you know, we got a penalty against us that should never have been a penalty. Darren pulled off a great save. And we seem to go backwards a little bit there after that penalty. We started to panic a bit in defence, making wrong choices, wrong decisions, poor communication.
“And then on the ball, we were a bit sloppy. And trying to move the ball with too much speed, we needed to hold on a little bit longer, onto the ball. At times we were looking to run with the ball on the pitch, currently it’s not in the best of shape, so running with the ball is not the right idea.
“And we ended up conceding a silly goal, a disappointing goal. But again, we responded quite positively, we still commanded in that first half, we still looked like we were going to score. So it was difficult for me to come in at halftime and have a go at the players because they were actually playing very, very well, and we were dictating the game in my opinion.
“So we just spoke about the importance of continuing doing what we were doing, but try and slow it down a little bit. Don’t play with as much speed, communication in defence needed to be better, and that on the ball, we mustn’t look to panic.
“And we responded well in the second half, got an early equaliser and then scored literally five minutes later to make it 2-1.
“And then I think the game was really done and dusted from there. We’ve got the third and the floodgates could have opened, I promise you, it could have been maybe ten today.
“The chances that we created, I though Craig Martin could have scored five on his own, to be brutally honest, and he only managed to get one.
“So emphatic win emphatic result, obviously disappointing losing Mdu. I thought the second yellow was a bit harsh on him. So we lose him now for a couple of matches, but at least Thato Mokeke comes back in after serving his suspension.
“But ja, three games on the trot, three ones on the trot, hasn’t happened since April of last year. So look forward to the game now against Maritzburg on Wednesday.”
City are back in action on Wednesday when they face Maritzburg United at the Harry Gwala Stadium.
