Cape Town City coach Eric Tinkler believes his team need to adopt “the same mentality as playing at home” when they travel to Soweto to face Orlando Pirates in the MTN8 second leg semi-final tomorrow.
City delivered an enterprising performance, particularly in the second half, in the first leg at the Cape Town Stadium on Wednesday night, but still conceded the all-important away goal as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Pirates.
Jaedin Rhodes grabbed the equaliser for the hosts after Relebohile Mofokeng opened the scoring for the Buccaneers.
The Citizens will therefore have to hit the target at Orlando Stadium (3pm start) if they are to have any chance of qualifying for their first MTN8 final since 2021.
Tinkler claims they have no other option but to approach the tie with the intent to be positive and attacking.
“Obviously going to the second leg, we have to play with the same energy and the same intensity, but with a more positive mentality, knowing that we need to get the away goal,” Tinkler said.
“You have to go there and score. You literally have to go with the same mentality as playing at home.
“We have to go there, be positive, look to dominate possession, look to create as many chances as possible, and then obviously put the ball in the back of the net, and then you’re back in the game.
“If you score a second … and now the away goal counts in your favour. But I think we created enough chances to tell ourselves that we’ve got a great chance going there.”
Tinkler could not, however, avoid showing his frustration in the manner in which City conceded, through a long ball played over the defensive line, which allowed Pirates’ teenage striker Mofokeng – who was yesterday included in the Bafana Bafana squad to face Uganda and South Sudan in the upcoming Afcon qualifiers – enough space to settle himself before drilling his shot past Darren Keet in goal.
“We knew that this would always be a very, very difficult match. Our record against them hasn’t been that brilliant over the years,” Tinkler said.
“We knew that they’re a team that likes to build from the back, but they are also a team that’s extremely dangerous on the transition and balls in behind.
“All of these things we planned for, we prepared for in terms of how we were going to press them.
“That was my disappointment, that we didn’t keep the clean sheet. We spoke about it, and the importance of that – and how we conceded it.
“If it was a goal, a guy beating two defenders and taking a shot from 30m out and putting it in the top corner, then I can accept it.
“We gave the ball away cheaply, and then we got caught with that one ball in behind, which was extremely disappointing. This is something we knew and we planned for, so that’s the disappointment.”
The BEST view of Jaedin’s goal? Look no further. 🍿 https://t.co/ePelsEDYaP pic.twitter.com/76dL69TXxv
Tinkler was forced to reshuffle his centre-back pairing for the first leg after Lorenzo Gordinho was ruled out with a broken nose, forcing Namibian international Aprocius Petrus to move further back from his usual defensive midfield role to partner Keano Cupido.
Petrus put in a solid shift at the heart of the City defence, keeping the attacking threat of Pirates at bay for the majority of the match.
Gordinho has, however, recovered from his injury, and is expected to be back in the frame for selection at Orlando Stadium.
New season, same old Keanu Cupido! 🔥
🎯 93% short pass accuracy
👌 100% Dribble accuracy
↔️ 8 Ball recoveries
🔢 7 Interceptions
⛔️ 4 Tackles
🧱 1 Block pic.twitter.com/cWkhmLtfDs
“I like adapting people,” Tinkler said. “But I thought he (Petrus) did really well. His performance was really good. I thought Keano was superb.
“So, now Lorenzo comes back into the squad and makes my headaches bigger headaches. That’s what you want. That level of competition is important.”