Cape Town - Maritzburg United coach Eric Tinkler accepted that his team were second best as they fell to a 2-1 defeat against Mamelodi Sundowns at the Harry Gwala Stadium on Tuesday.
The Team of Choice made a disastrous start to the game as they found themselves 2-0 down after 21 minutes but kept on fighting to get back into the match.
Masandawana were reduced to 10 men on the hour mark when Gastón Sirino was sent off and the hosts took advantage of the extra man as Fortune Makaringe netted a consolation goal late on.
It was not enough though as the Brazilians held on for all three points that took them to the top of the table while for Maritzburg they stay at the foot of the standings and face an uphill battle to avoid relegation.Tinkler told SuperSport TV: "You got to give credit where credit is due. They were very clinical up front and punished us. (It was) two counterattacks really and we prepared and warned the boys about that."They are going to penetrate through the middle of us. They got a lot of speed obviously on the transitional phase, we got to be aware of that and we got caught and I think the big difference between them and us were the chances.
The former Orlando Pirates coach continued to highlight that his side were in the game but their opponents just had better accuracy in front of goal.
Tinkler continued: "It's not a case of we didn't have chances we did. The first (two) goals comes from us having a strike at goal and getting caught on the counter."So there's that disappointment. But I can't fault the boys they worked hard. But I think the quality was the difference, they took their chances and we didn't."