Laying his Ghosts to rest

guid- of having received the award,” said Tinkler.

“A lot of hard work has gone into it … But the accolade is for everybody involved with the club, including the rest of my technical team and the players of course.

“To be honest, I thought we were a bit better in November than December. Yes, we won the Telkom (Knockout) in December, but we never finished off the month well.

“But, nevertheless, congratulations to everybody at the club, the award is for a collective effort from everyone. Now, the challenge is to continue that consistency and winning mentality, and to make it a habit.”

While Pirates may be struggling, Tinkler is paying no attention to it. The fact that he has worked at the club allows him insight into how they respond to adversity – and he’s expecting a big reaction when Pirates arrive at the Cape Town Stadium tomorrow.

“We simply have to continue the good work against Pirates,” said the City coach. “It will be very tough, that’s for sure. You cannot judge Pirates on their last two games. They have lots of quality in their squad and the players will be determined to prove that they belong there.

“As a team, we will have to be organised and disciplined and respect the opponents.

“At the same time, though, we have to play to our strengths. We aren’t where we are because of luck or fortune, it’s because of hard work and we have to stick to the correct principles against Pirates tomorrow.”

City have started the new year in positive fashion, with wins over Highlands Park and neighbours Ajax Cape Town. The Capetonians are perched second on the PSL standings on 31 points, the same tally as log leaders Wits.

The two at the top are followed by Kaizer Chiefs on 30 points and SuperSport United on 29.

Sundowns are next best with 26 points, but the defending champions have quite a few games in hand. One thing’s certain, we’re in for an exciting race for the PSL title.