Eric Tinkler bemoans defensive lapses despite MTN8 victory

Babina Noko clawed their way back to settle the cup tie 3-2 and progress to the semifinals of the competition. 

However, the coach believes all the hard work during the pre-season was a little undone when the team was breached twice in the first half. 

Tinkler reflected on the victory with mixed feelings.

"We worked quite extensively during the preseason to try and ensure that we can bring those goals scored against us tally down but unfortunately tonight, two silly mistakes end up costing you two goals,” Tinkler said.

“So, in the first half I was extremely disappointed with the performance of the team. We had moments in the first half that we looked like we dominated, we had a couple of chances, we managed to get ourselves back into the game with Brad's [Bradley Grobler] first goal, which allowed us to come in at half time with a bit of hope and a prayer. 

“It's always difficult for a team when they find themselves, 2-1 up and conceding that goal just before half-time. I thought the performance, changes that we made at half-time worked extremely well for us and I think we clearly dominated the game in the second half and deserved the two goals that we scored and possibly we could have even had a third." 

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The former Cape Town City mentor did give credit to his players for not giving up when they were 2-0 down and seemingly out of the contest.

"The second half was a little bit more from what I saw during the six weeks of preseason versus what I saw in the first half but that's always a risk. You do six weeks of preseason, you play seven, eight friendlies and it's difficult to gauge, are the guys ready, aren't they ready,” he added.

“You could feel in the warm up there was quite a bit of nerves, so that first half performance, the guys started sluggishly, poorly, silly errors. Especially the goal from the setpiece, we worked on it quite extensively during the week where we made the players aware that the threat is gonna be at the far post. 

“But now it's about learning from those mistakes, fixing those problems, we’re into the next round which was our objective leading up to this game and as Brad mentioned, the one good thing we take from, it's the character the guys showed."