Tinkler delighted with team’s grit
Eric Tinkler was pleased with his team’s character after they survived a barrage of attacks from Baroka FC and went on to steal a win right at the end of their Absa Premiership match on Wednesday night.
Mxolisi Kunene was the hero for Tinkler’s side as his solitary strike against his former team was enough to seal the three points.
It was the Team of Choice’s second win on the trot after they beat Chippa United by the same scoreline last weekend.
“It was important for us to collect three points,” said Tinkler after the match while admitting that they had to dig deep for it. “Baroka are a difficult team and I believe they deserved better than what they got at Chiefs and even here.
“But we showed character again. It has been two not-so-great performances but two positive results that stem from the fact we managed to put the ball into the back of the net,” he added.
Tinkler said his team’s slow start to their campaign was due to their inability to score as they have a good defensive record, similar only to Chiefs, Bidvest Wits and Mamelodi Sundowns who occupy the first three spots on the standings.
“We have only conceded five goals, and if you look at who else has conceded five goals you will find they are sitting at the top. So our problem has not been defensively but rather offensively. We haven’t been scoring,” said Tinkler.
But while Tinkler is happy that his team managed to score and get the three points, his counterpart at Baroka Wedson Nyirenda was left scratching his head as he tries to find a solution to their problems in front of goals.
“Once more it was a game where results didn’t reflect our performance,” said Nyirenda at the Harry Gwala Stadium.
“If you look at how we performed today we could have easily scored six goals. It was the same case as it was with the Kaizer Chiefs game but the result points at something else.
“But that is how football is, there is nothing we can do.”