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Maritzburg United Coach Eric Tinkler says the way his team pulled together after a poor start to their season made all the difference.
The Team of Choice entered the enforced break as a result of the spread of the coronavirus in fifth place on the Absa Premiership standings, a mere 10 points from the top.
They had struggled initially to get going as a number of new players took their time to settle.
But settle they did, and Tinkler's charges only narrowly lost out to Mamelodi Sundowns in the final of the Telkom Knockout, at the end of 2019.
And reflecting on his season's thus far, the former Orlando Pirates boss explained a combination of factors came together to kickstart the campaign.
Tinkler told KickOff: "It's just hard work from everybody involved, from technical staff to players, to administration. There were a lot of signings this season. We signed 14 players. There is no magic trick.
"It's hard work and sometimes hard work pays off, sometimes it doesn't you know. It could have been the other way round where we could have started the season very well and then found ourselves struggling to get results.
"The fact that we started the season poorly only getting two points from the first five games put everybody under pressure... so everybody took responsibility. I think that's the most important thing from the players all the way to the technical staff."
The former Orlando Pirates, Cape Town City, SuperSport United and Chippa United boss added: "We would have loved to have won the cup but unfortunately we didn't. But we lost to a very, very good team in Mamelodi Sundowns, so the boys can be very proud of what they've achieved so far this season."
- TEAMtalk media
Channel 202
