In the aftermath of his side narrow 2-1 victory over visitors URA FC at Orlando stadium, Orlando Pirates Coach Eric Tinkler admitted it wasn’t the ideal result and said they let themselves down.
The Buccaneers led 2-0 till the 93rd minute thanks to goals from Rooi Mahamutsa and Lehlohonolo Majoro but an own goal from Happy Jele means they will now make a trip to Kampala with a narrow margin.
“We let ourselves down in the 93rd minute, from a counter attack. It’s not ideal to finish the game 2-1,” Tinkler said in a press conference.
“We started well thanks to Rooi’s goal, but we started to relax. We weren’t controlling the game like we did,” he added.
The former Bafana Bafana star however commended his defence for what he termed as a fantastic performance but blamed them for loss of concentration in the closing stages of the game.
“Our defence has been fantastic, Siya & Rooi were immense. But having said that, football is a 96 minute game. Full concentration.”
On how he plans to play in Kampala, Tinkler said they won’t sit back and defend the lead but attack in search for victory.
“We are going to Kampala for the win; we won’t be looking to defend the lead.”
Orlando Pirates need a draw or victory of any kind to progress to the next round whilst URA need a 1-0 victory to make it through.
Orlando Pirates last visit to Kampala came in 1995 when they drew 1-1 with Express FC in the semi-finals of the same competition.
Having won the first leg 1-0 in Johannesburg, they advanced 2-1 on aggregate then.