‘United play with fear in away matches’

We deserved draw at Chiefs – Tinkler

A peeved Maritzburg United coach Eric Tinkler has challenged his troops to improve their away performance and show the same determination they display at their home ground, Harry Gwala Stadium. Bottom-placed Maritzburg suffered a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Kaizer Chiefs on Saturday night.

In the five games he’s been in charge of the Team of Choice, Tinkler is winless in away games. They lost to Bidvest Wits (1-0), Cape Town City (3-2) and now Chiefs. “It cannot help us that we only do the right things when we play at home. We must end this thing of playing with fear away,” Tinkler said. “When I look at the away games against Wits and City, I thought we performed well… had moments. But we seem to play with a certain amount of fear.’’

The Maritzburg tactician singled out Bandile Shandu, saying the midfielder was not himself against Chiefs. Tinkler felt the diminutive Shandu would have done better at Harry Gwala Stadium. “Certain players like Shandu today [on Saturday]… he did not play like he would do at home. At home he played with more freedom… lot more confidence. In that first half he was panicking, using wrong parts of foot to try bring it down.’’ Tinkler did not hide he would have cherished a point at FNB Stadium.

With seven matches to go, the ex-Chippa United coach vowed they would fight until the end, hoping to survive the dreaded axe.

“We had one point in our pocket and we gave it away. This stage of the season for us that’s very expensive. We are optimistic, though, that we can turn it around. We will give our all until the last match.’ Elsewhere, Black Leopards outwitted Chippa United 3-2, while Polokwane City beat Golden Arrows 2-0 and SuperSport United beat Free State Stars 1-0.

‘‘ We had one point in our pocket and we gave it away