Kopano Monaheng
THE plan was to first go past the quarter-finals of the Nedbank Cup, go all the way to the final and possibly win for their supporters.
But it was not to be for the Babina Noko outfit, who saw their dream cut short by a team that plies its trade in the National First Division (NFD). Milford FC sadly knocked Sekhukhune United out of the Nedbank Cup competition after extra time.
The game finished 1-all after 90 minutes, but Milford had to finish it up in the second half of extra time to ensure that the game didn’t go to penalties.
Eric Tinkler, head coach of Sekhukhune United, was left with nothing but to focus on the 10 remaining league matches to ensure that they finish in the top three on the Betway Premiership log standings.
All that Tinkler wanted to achieve was to win the Nedbank Cup trophy.
“Definitely, I know my chairman will be extremely happy because that is the target that we’ve set ourselves for the season,” he said.
“We wanted to finish in the top three. Why do we want to finish in the top three?
We want to be involved in the Confederation of African Football (CAF).”
And they wanted to achieve that through winning the Nedbank Cup trophy.
Now that the target is out, they now have to win the rest of their league matches to stand a chance to play in CAF.
It’s not going to be easy at all, as no team would want to lose matches in the second round of the season. But if they can get 21 out of 30 points in their remaining league matches, they can still achieve that.
“We have four league matches after the Nedbank Cup final. And those four games can determine a lot of things,” Tinkler said prior to their game on Saturday.
His target is to accumulate maximum points of about 48 to 54 in the league.
“Will it guarantee us? Right now, I can’t tell you whether it will guarantee it for us or not. Those 52 or 54 points, whether they will guarantee us third place or not, I’m not sure. I think that fight will be right till the end,” concluded Tinkler.
In other matches played this weekend:
Durban City won 5-4 against Golden Arrows on penalties.
TS Galaxy beat Jacksa Spears 2-0.
AmaZulu lost 2-1 on penalties against Casric Stars.
Milford FC 3-2 on penalties against Sekhukhune United.
The Nedbank Cup semi-final draw will be live this evening on the DStv 202 channel.
