Cape Town City coach Eric Tinker says a more disciplined mindset helped his club to grab a dramatic last-gasp winner on Sunday against Polokwane City.
New Angolan striker Jo Paciencia scored just minutes after coming on as a substitute for a debut goal as Cape Town City edged newly promoted Polokwane City 1-0 in their opening game of the new DStv Premiership season.
Cape Town City had a plethora of chances, particularly in the first half but could not find the net right until stoppage time at the end of the game when Jo rose to head home Tshegofatso Nyama’s free kick.
“I was frustrated at halftime because I really, really thought we played well. For that first 45 minutes I saw what I was hoping to see from the team,” Tinkler explained.
“There is always a little bit of doubt in your mind from preseason, how the players would respond, especially in an official game. But what I saw was 11 players who came out there, right mindset, right attitude, believing in the system, finding the spaces, creating the chances, showing good aggression, which they needed to do against a team of a stature.
“It was very difficult for me to criticise anything in the first half from the players, other than obviously, not scoring.”
Tinkler said at halftime he emphasised not panicking or getting frustrated but to keep their shape and organisation.
“I told them ‘just be patient, continue doing what you're doing and surely you will be rewarded’. I think there was still a little bit of that frustration in the back of their minds and some anxiety. I could see certain players starting to tire so we had to start making the changes and the guys who came on contributed.
“I thought our defensive organisation was very good, pressing was very good but having to work right until the death to get the result is not the ideal scenario. But I'm very, very happy for the guys because they kept pushing, looking for that goal and I think there was only one team that deserved to come away with all three points.
“Last season there were a lot of games where the result didn't come despite putting on a performance like that. In the past, when the goals weren’t coming, we’d take more risk and start committing more guys forward and then … bang … get hit on the count. But this time we were more disciplined. I've made the players aware that we can't be doing the same like we did last season, where we start getting frustrated and thinking that the goals are not coming and we start committing more numbers and get punished,” the Cape Town City coach added.
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