Tinkler thanks Lady Luck as Citizens go second
CAPE Town City coach Eric Tinkler admitted his team rode their luck after beating TS Galaxy at home to take a huge step closer to qualifying for continental football next season.
After a decent run on the road, where they bagged five Premiership points out of a possible nine thanks to a win over Kaizer Chiefs and draws with Mamelodi Sundowns and Chippa United, City returned to the Mother City on Saturday night.
The Citizens hosted Galaxy in a massive game as the hosts were looking to leapfrog the inactive
Royal AM into second spot, while the visitors were looking to pull
themselves closer to safety.
Tinkler’s men prevailed, with January signing Darwin Gonzalez opening his account for the Citizens with a sumptuous finish from open play in the 17th minute before Mduduzi Mdantsane sealed the three points from the penalty spot late in the game.
Despite the win, Tinkler was not impressed with the overall team performance, crediting lady luck for smiling on them after being secondbest on the night.
“Even once we got the penalty, they kept coming at us. They hit the post right towards the end. I have to say tonight, the performance, collectively, was not great. Defensively, also not our best performance,” Tinkler said after the 2-0 win.
“There were a lot of mistakes in defence. We gave them too much time. We needed to press and drop off and we didn’t. They nearly punished us.
“But we rode our luck a little bit, and sometimes you’ve got to say to yourself, ‘thank God for the three points even when we play ugly football’.”
Tinkler and his charges will definitely take the three points which took them to 48 points, three ahead of third-placed Royal AM, who have a game in hand against Orlando Pirates.
If City win their last two matches of the season, they’ll surely qualify for their maiden continental competition next season in either the CAF Champions League or Confederation Cup.
The Citizens face AmaZulu FC on Saturday and Stellenbosch FC on May 21 to complete their league fixtures.
However, Tinkler will have to make sure his charges don’t dominate without converting their chances after bemoaning that was the case in their goalless draw with Chippa on Wednesday night.
“I’ve been on the end where you work extremely hard, create so many chances and end up drawing the game 0-0, like what happened with us against Chippa,” Tinkler recalled.
“We worked so hard, we were really, really good on the ball. But the ball wouldn’t go into the net and we missed a penalty, so I’ll take this one, especially after the game against Chippa.”