Cape Town City coach Eric Tinkler said he could not fault his team’s effort but felt they needed more control as they lost at home to Sekhukhune United on Wednesday night.

City got stung by a sixth minute goal from Chibuike Ohizu and were beaten for a third game in a row.

“I've been saying for a long, long time now the biggest issue we have is the final third. But the fact of the matter is what I say here doesn't really matter because the newspapers will say three losses in a row. That's just the fact,” Tinkler said.

“You know, we had 69 per cent possession, more than 600 passes, more than 16 chances. And you lose from one mistake.”

But he said he could not criticise his team’s effort.

“I thought everybody put in a massive shift, and you could see the desire to try and get back into the game.

“Sometimes you just got to show a little bit more control, a little bit more composure. But at the same time, they started dropping deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper, and it gets more difficult to break them down.

“So when you get those chances you got to score, you can't miss those chances and then say, ‘Oh, it's okay, next one, I'll hit the target’. You know, it might be your last.

“We had a number of chances. So, I feel for the players. I really do because they worked their socks off. And I feel for the technical team because we work so damn hard with the players, especially in that final third.”

Tinkler said it was frustrating because in training players were burying the ball with regularity but then not converting in the matches.

“Every day of the week but today, nothing you know. That's the frustration that I have,” he added.