Cape Town - Cape Town City head coach Eric Tinkler admits the Premiership title hopefuls are performing way beyond their early season expectations.
After former Ajax shareholder John Comitis aquired the Mpumlanaga Black Aces franchise and relocated to the Mother City to form the Citizens - many expected the newly formed top-flight side to undergo a slow development.
With no academy, no history, minimum squad players and a relatively in-experienced head coach in Tinkler - it was the markings of a long-term project.
However, Tinkler, who came under major scrutiny in his first managerial venture with Orlando Pirates, has already picked up silverware in form of the Telkom Knock Out, while occupying top spot in the league - only seven months since their formation.
"The transition has been a very good and extremely challenging one‚" he told Business Live.
"I knew from the offset that it would be a massive challenge. We only started with 14 players and then it was about rebuilding the squad and wanting to create something from the ground up.
"Our aspiration was to look to get to the top eight‚ with that as the target‚ and build a squad to be extremely competitive. That was important.
"We have created a family environment at the club‚ where‚ right from the offset‚ everybody knew exactly what we are getting into and what was required for us to achieve things."