Johannesburg - In a week where he is spending a huge chunk of his time looking for frailties to exploit in the Cape Town City team ahead of Saturday’s Telkom Knockout final at the Peter Mokaba Stadium, SuperSport United coach Stuart Baxter also acknowledged that his counterpart Eric Tinkler, 46, is shaping up to be a bright prospect.
Tinkler has turned the Mother City side into a surprise package this season having progressed to the cup final and they are currently leading the Absa Premiership, with their closest rivals in an intriguing title race, coincidentally SuperSport, trailing them by four points.
Baxter is more than qualified to have a say on whether the ginger-haired Tinkler is steadily improving or not as the two squared up twice last season while the City coach was still in charge at
Orlando Pirates.
“I think Eric is one of the young coaches in South Africa that has got a bright future. He has done a lot, and I thought he did a good job at Pirates,” Baxter explained.
“Whenever you talk to him about the game, he knows what he is talking about and he has got belief in what he is doing. He has come to an open book now with Cape Town City, like having a new staff for him and for them. They have found each other nicely. I think Eric is going to continue doing that as a good young coach.”
While many would not have predicted seeing City’s season unfold they way it has after 12 league matches as well as their form in the Telkom Knockout, Baxter said it hasn’t come as a shock to see Tinkler make the most of the remnants of the Mpumalanga Black Aces side whose franchise was bought by businessman John Comitis earlier this year.
ERIC TINKLER
“I am not as surprised as everybody is because it’s a team that finished fourth last season and now has a new coach, who has organised them well,” was Baxter’s argument for his stance.
“They are kicking on from last season, which is a logical progression. Therefore you shouldn’t think that they are flying temporarily. They are where they are and they deserve that. We are preparing for a really tough game.”
The match will be even tougher for Baxter without strikers Jeremy Brockie and Bradley Grobler, who are doubts for Saturday’s final because of injuries. The duo were taken through their paces yesterday at training, but Grobler was not involved in the entire session, as his recovery to full fitness is taking a bit longer.
“We are testing to see what reaction we get from Jeremy (who suffered a rapture in his ankle after an awful tackle from Thabo Matlaba in the cup semi-final against Pirates nearly two weeks ago). At the moment, Jeremy is a probable and Bradley a possible and I think they could both change to not being available at all,” the coach said.
In their absence, SuperSport beat Bidvest Wits 2-0 and huffed and puffed to a goalless draw away to Bloemfontein Celtic in the league.
“I think the squad has covered for them pretty well, but you obviously want your best players on the field. The problem for me is that I would like to prepare with what I know will be the starting line-up, but that is now slightly compromised. So, I will work with the centrebacks and wide players because I know who those are going to be,” Baxter added.
@superjourno
@extrastrongsa