The Betway Premiership has not been a happy hunting ground after City has a win and a draw after three outings. This is a far cry from expectations and coach Eric Tinkler hopes the Carling competition will allow the recruitment drive to back up its ambitions.

This evening, City will host Royal AM at the Athlone Stadium in a last 16 round fixture (kick-off 8 pm). The teams met a month ago in a Premiership fixture at the Harry Gwala Stadium, in Pietermaritzburg. and the match ended in a 1-all stalemate.

"We played them not so long ago in the league and only managed to get a draw. What becomes important is that we're playing at home this time," said Tinkler. "We will go out there and play with a lot of the energy and intensity. We will look to try to reach the next round of the Carling Cup.

"This season we would like to collect one of the (PSL's) trophies. This is an opportunity we need to grab with both hands. We know very well that it's not going to be easy.

"All the games are going to be tough but when you're an ambitious club like us, you've got to step up. That is what we will do to ensure we play in the next round of the competition."

Royal AM have been slapped with transfer bans after failing to settle disputes with Samir Nurkovic and Ricardo Nascimento. As a result, the club has been unable to recruit players for several months. Remarkably Royal AM coach John Maduka has guided his depleted squad to four draws in four Premiership matches this season.

City had two Namibian nationals on duty for Namibia during the recent AFCON qualifiers and they returned with minor injuries.

Prince,

Aprocius Petrus, 24, midfielder – Cape To

And just into the squats, coach, any injuries?

"We have a couple of concerns. We had Prince (Tijueza) and (Aprocius) Petrus away with Namibia and both of them picked up small knocks. However, it looks like they should be fit and ready to play.

"They joined the full training sessions, and seem to have come through without major issues. (Fortune) Makaringe picked up a knock and will not be available for this game."

Tinkler said he was expecting an all-around improvement from the team.

"Everybody else is fit and ready to play. We need to play with energy, intensity and positivity," said Tinkler.

"You've got to believe that you can get into that next round and you've got to believe that you can go all the way."

"We would like to see ourselves obviously getting better game by game. The games are going to come thick and everybody will look to improve their objectives this season."

#eric-tinkler

After aggressive recruitment, CT City have great expectations