Tinkler reflects on what might have been: We should have punished Chiefs with at least four goals

Maritzburg United coach Eric Tinkler believes that his charges had Kaizer Chiefs completely at their mercy in the MTN8 quarterfinal meeting between the two sides at the weekend and is upset that they did not put AmaKhosi to the sword.

A disappointed Tinkler said Maritzburg completely dominated the encounter in the first half and Chiefs were incredibly fortunate to go to the halftime break trailing by a lone strike instead of at least four goals.

"I would sum up the game in two parts - 45 minutes where we were exceptional. In the first half I thought we absolutely dominated and we should have come in at halftime at least three or four nil up‚" the exasperated coach said.

"You know‚ we were exceptionally good in the first half‚ our pressing‚ our transitional play‚ the chances we created and we did not punish them the way we should have.

"We exposed their weaknesses but you know‚ we did not capitalise on that."

The disjoined Chiefs side had their backs against the wall for long periods in the first half and were incredibly fortuitous that the damage was restricted to Thabiso Kutumela's lone strike in the 35th minute.

Coach Gavin Hunt must have read his charges the riot act in the change room during the halftime because they had a different look about them‚ clawing their way back from a goal down to win 2-1 courtesy of a brace from man-of-the-match Yasman Sasman.

Both goals came from corner kicks and Tinkler was not a happy man as he warned his charges about the threat posed by Chiefs in set-pieces.

"We spoke about it [the Chiefs threat in set-pieces] at halftime and then I don't know what happened in the second half‚ a completely different team came out‚" he said.

"We were playing on the back foot‚ we did not press them‚ we allowed them to get in behind us.

"[Leonardo] Castro came in and I thought he made a difference to them‚ they played the ball to his feet‚ they looked to combine from there and they looked more of a threat going forward.

"But yet they did not score in open play.

"We spoke about it during the week - their biggest threat is from the set-pieces.

"That was their biggest threat last season under [former coach] Ernst Middendorp and it has always been under Gavin [Hunt]‚ their biggest threat is from set-pieces.

"We worked on that and we said the importance of attacking the ball‚ taking responsibility and we did not do that.

"We conceded two goals from a corner‚ I mean it is simply not good enough from the squad in the second half.

"So I am disappointed with the second half performance but I was extremely delighted with the first half performance.

"I am trying to figure out now what is the reason."

Maritzburg open their account in the league against Baroka FC at Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday afternoon and Tinkler has the next few days to iron out any chinks he might have seen against Chiefs.

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