Cape Town - SuperSport
United boss Eric Tinkler spoke of Jeremy Brockie's 'maturity' and
professionalism after he returned to the team with two goals in the MTN8
semi-finals.
Brockie found himself sidelined for a couple of games for SuperSport after he had tried to force a move to Mamelodi Sundowns, which failed to materialise.
But when restored to the starting line-up, for Matsatsantsa's second leg semi-final away to Maritzburg United on Saturday night, the New Zealand international rose to the occasion as his two goals secured a 2-0 win on the night and a 3-1 aggregate victory.
"He's shown a lot of maturity and he's understood the opportunity for him to make a move will come," said Tinkler.
"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."
Tinkler also praised the overall performance of his team, saying he "thought it was a fantastic performance from the team, particularly offensively".
"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."
Meanwhile Brockie is just seven goals away from becoming the club's all-time record goalscorer.
Following his brace against Maritzburg, the New Zealand international took his tally for Matsatsantsa to 51 strikes.
It's an exceptional feat to be six goals away from the late Abraham Raselemane's 11-year record, given that Brockie only arrived at the Tshwane club in 2015.