Cape Town - Maritzburg United coach Eric Tinkler believes it was crucial for his team to beat Polokwane City in the lead up to the Telkom Knockout final.
The Team of Choice have a massive game coming up against Mamelodi Sundowns in the Telkom Knockout final on Saturday and Tinkler knew it would severely hamper his team's chances to shock the Brazilians if they went into the clash with anything less than a win against Rise and Shine.
Yusuf Jappie produced the only goal of the game against Polokwane to secure a 1-0 win for Maritzburg, boosting their self-belief at just the right time.
"I said (to the players before the Polokwane game), 'you know you come off a loss against SuperSport United. What you don't want is to go into that final after another loss because that would obviously dent your confidence',” said Tinkler, according to Sowetan Live.
"So, it was important to come to Polokwane and win because we know that will help us leading up to the final."
Despite the importance of the TKO final, Tinkler also reminded everyone that the Absa Premiership always remains the priority.
He added: "I have said this before; the league is the most important thing for us.
"We set ourselves certain targets by December and the focus was primarily on that, now we will obviously turn our focus to the cup game."
Saturday’s clash kicks off at 18:00.
- TeamTalk Media