Tinkler praises two-goal hero Brockie

Goal hero Jeremy Brockie earned praise from his coach after putting behind him his transfer dispute with the club to deliver a two-goal performance that sent Supersport United into next month's MTN8 final.

"He's shown a lot of maturity and he's understood the opportunity for him to make a move will come," said a delighted Eric Tinkler after the 2-0 away win over Maritzburg United in the second leg of their semifinal on Saturday.

United advanced on a 3-1 aggregate.

"We obviously know what his qualities are and he showed it again, which is good for him and for us. As I've been saying the whole week, he's been excellent in training, very, very professional."

Brockie passed the 50-goal mark for Supersport in just 90 starts and has now scored 24 cup goals, three of them in this year's MTN8. The New Zealander had been the subject of a protracted courting by Mamelodi Sundowns but Supersport consistently rebuffed the overtures by insisting Brockie, 29, sees out his contract.

But, if there were any ill feelings between Brockie and his employer, it was certainly not evident at Harry Gwala Stadium in Durban as he headed home both goals in the first half.

"Overall, I thought it was a fantastic performance from the team, particularly offensively," said Tinkler. "We knew we had to come here to score and we set ourselves the target to try to do that as early as possible because, obviously, it would put the pressure back on them. We believed a second goal would probably kill the tie. And we did that in the first half.

"Defensively in the second half, we knew they were going to start committing more bodies forward. And I thought we defended really, really well. They had a lot of momentum, a lot of possession around our penalty area. But they never hurt us."

For Tinkler, 47, it is another cup final after taking Orlando Pirates to the CAF Confederation Cup final in 2015 and Cape Town City's 2016 Telkom Knockout success.