Cape Town - Cape Town City FC coach Eric Tinkler admits his charges were disappointing in the 4-0 demolition at the hands of Platinum Stars on Tuesday.
City FC entered the game still on a high after their Telkom Knockout triumph at the weekend, but were made to pay for a lacklustre showing as Dikwena romped to a comfortable win at Athlone Stadium.
Tinkler admits it was difficult to prepare for the match only three days after defeating SuperSport United in the TKO final.
"We didn't come to the races at all. You can get away with one or two players not performing well, but we had six or seven of us that were performing way below par and that makes it extremely difficult," Tinkler told KickOff.
"You know before the game that it's going to be extremely difficult against Platinum Stars because they are going to come here motivated. They are playing a team that's just won a cup and they are going through a rough period.
"It was hard for us to try and get our boys motivated in such a short space of time after such a massive game, so that was always going to be the difficult.
"You just have to accept it. We just have to put this one totally behind us, take a day to reflect and move on to the next one."
In a rematch of the cup final, the Citizens will renew hostilities with Matsatsantsa at Cape Town Stadium on Friday.