Cape Town City coach Eric Tinkler has questioned the drive in his team following their 3-0 loss to Stellenbosch FC in their Betway Premiership match at Athlone Stadium on Wednesday.
City had competed strongly with their opponents, only to concede on the cusp of half-time. After the break, a wonder strike by Stellenbosch’s Fawaaz Basadien from inside his own half seemingly knocked the wind out of City’s sails.
Though they were already down, before that second goal the match was still strongly contested between both sides.
In fact, the match-changing strike from Basadien came from a counter-attack as City had been probing the Stellies goal.
Eric Tinkler says he is disappointed in his Cape Town City men for not fighting back 👇@Betway_za pic.twitter.com/1galASBt3p
— SuperSport Football ⚽️ (@SSFootball) September 25, 2024
‘The boys dropped their heads’
“The whole game changed when they scored the second goal,” said Tinkler.
“It’s almost like the boys dropped their heads and didn’t believe any more they could get themselves back into the game.”
The inability of his troops to mount a comeback was what irked Tinkler the most.
“Then with the third goal, it looked like all hope was lost. My disappointment was the fight. After the second goal, the fight wasn’t there anymore. That can’t happen. We have to continue fighting irrespective of what’s happening.
“We got hit twice on the counter, but we weren’t playing badly at the time. We were actually playing quite well. But your response has to be better than that. You can’t give up at that stage of the game.”
The former Bafana Bafana midfielder Tinkler said it was particularly frustrating to lose by such a big margin, as he didn’t believe his side had been outplayed by any means.
“I felt we were a little bit unlucky to come in at half-time 1-0 down. Especially the way we ended up conceding that first goal at the end of the first half. It was a counter-attack … we could have punished them. It was one mistake, no pressure on the ball.
“I explained to the players they weren’t playing poorly, you just have to be a lot better in control of the ball. The decision-making has to be better. Be aware because they’re going to look to hit you on the counter.”