Avoiding relegation is Tinkler’s first goal
Eric Tinkler was pleased with his Cape Town City side’s fast start to 2017 and, in particular, the performance of his two debutants in the 3-0 hammering of Highlands Park on Tuesday.
Telkom Knockout winners City were full value for their victory and might have had more goals‚ with only minimal alarms caused at the other end as they remained joint top of the league with Wits on 28 points. Wits have two games in hand.
Tinkler started with new signing Letsie Koapeng as the fulcrum of the attack‚ while Mozambique international left back Edmilson Dove also made his entrance. Koapeng grabbed the second goal for City and linked up well with the other creative forwards‚ Lebogang Manyama‚ Aubrey Ngoma and Sibusiso Masina.
“I thought the debutants did very well‚” he said. “Edmilson was very good‚ though you could see that he was very tired at the end of the game.
“The Mozambique league finished some time ago [end of October], so it will take some time to bring him up to speed. He also needs to get up to speed with the pace of the PSL‚ but we knew all of these things when we signed him.
“There is also a bit of a language barrier; he speaks a bit of English. But these are all things that will improve in time.”
Tinkler knows Koapeng from the forward’s time in the Wits academy, where Tinkler worked previously under head coach Roger De Sa.
“I’ve known him since he was 15‚ so I know what he can bring to this group. He also knows me and my expectations. All of the players that we have brought in [to add to the core squad from the Mpumalanga Black Aces franchise] have contributed, even those that are not with us any more. A guy like Matt Sim contributed a lot while he was here.”
Tinkler was impressed with his side’s first-half showing against Highlands Park‚ but felt they should have been further head and make sure not to allow the visitors to stay in contention until deep into the match.
“The first-half performance was excellent. It was 2-0 at the break, but we should have scored three or even more.”
City were disappointing in their final three matches of 2016 after lifting the Telkom Knockout‚ taking just a single point.
Tinkler is not thinking about league titles though. Their preseason goal of 30 points‚ the accepted number needed to avoid relegation‚ remains key.
“Our number one goal is still to reach the 30-point mark and we are not there yet. For me, that remains top priority.”
The club is on 28 and can move past that mark when they take on Ajax Cape Town on Saturday.