Bafana stars still 'hurting' after failing to reach World Cup, says Tinkler

Eric Tinkler was not pleased with SuperSport United’s performance in their 1-0 Absa Premiership victory over Ajax Cape Town in Mbombela on Wednesday night‚ but says the three points were much-needed to lift his players’ morale.

SuperSport moved to within six points of league leaders Baroka FC‚ but have a massive six games in hand‚ and are arguably the best-placed side in the title race‚ even if they have only featured in six games to date.

And after defeat to TP Mazembe in the Confederation Cup final was confirmed at the weekend‚ and with the team's Bafana Bafana stars still “hurting” after their failure to reach the World Cup‚ Tinkler was just happy to pick up a win as Aubrey Modiba scored the only goal of the game midway through the first half.

“Happy with three points‚ but not a good performance‚” Tinkler told reporters.

“First half‚ our pressing was poor‚ and with our transitional play we could have hurt them more.

"Yes‚ we got the goal‚ but I thought we could have got a lot more in that first half.

“Our final pass was poor‚ that last 10 minutes period in the first half we took our foot off the pedal and looked very lethargic.

"I warned the players at halftime that this is a dangerous game‚ they can come back into it.

“The second half performance was not good enough‚ we had to fight‚ fight‚ fight‚ but maybe considering the psychological circumstances‚ you kind of except it and walk away say‚ ‘OK‚ we got the three points’‚ but then have a look at what we have done here and fix it for Tuesday.”

SuperSport take on Orlando Pirates on Tuesday in what will be a tougher test against one of their championship rivals‚ and Tinkler admits that going into that game after another defeat would have been demoralising for his team.

“It was very important for us to collect the three points psychologically‚ because having lost that final‚ and then another loss today‚ it would have been a big knock.

“We also have a few of the boys that were with Bafana Bafana‚ and the fact that Bafana did not qualify [for the World Cup] hurts them.

"People forget that it hurts them more than it hurts us as fans because they have missed out on that opportunity to go to a World Cup.”