Tinkler rues Bucs’ loss

Mbombela - Following their first defeat of the 2014 CAF Confederations Cup over the weekend, Orlando Pirates head coach Eric Tinkler believes that his charges deserved to walk away victorious over Zamalek as they dominated their opponents from the first whistle.

The Egyptians giants came from behind to snatch a 2-1 triumph, in the closing stages of the Group B clash played at the Mbombela stadium on Saturday.

Yusuf Maroaf and Moustafa Mohamed were on target for Zamalek while substitute Lehlohonolo Majoro grabbed a goal for Pirates.

The Roodepoort born tactician said that the Parktown club were just unfortunate to lose concentration when it mattered most.

Despite their loss, Tinkler hinted that he is very pleased with his team’s performance.

“I think we probably deserved more out of the game but that’s my personal opinion,” said Tinkler.

“Looking at how we started, we were very good, applying the high pressure and we were positive.

“It was important to play the diagonal balls and we had a great chance in the first five minutes and that’s something which I wanted from the boys.

“So I was pretty happy with how we started but as the game progressed they (Zamalek) started to grow in some confidence and their movements were very good.

“We started struggling with our markings but we dealt with that at half time.

“We got the lead and then let ourselves down, Oupa (Manyisa) lost the ball in the middle of the park and they hit us on the counter and we were punished.

“We just lacked concentrations against a strong team.

“And you can’t afford to make those mistakes against a team like Zamalek.

“But I believe that we did well and we didn’t deserve to lose the game.”