Cape Town City coach Benni McCarthy wants his side to be more clinical in front of goal when they welcome Highlands Park in the Nedbank Cup on Friday, writes DYLAN APPOLIS.

The Citizens advanced to the round of 16 after claiming a comfortable 2-0 victory over SuperSport United at Cape Town Stadium in their opening fixture.

However, their seven-game unbeaten run recently came to an end when they fell to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of AmaZulu in the Absa Premiership, their last defeat before this coming against the Lions of the North.

‘Our last league defeat came at the hands of Highlands Park,’ McCarthy said. ‘It was a tough trip for us, not that I want to make excuses.’

‘They caught us on a different time and different day, but Friday it will be completely the opposite.

‘We are a much more established team, compared to when we played them last time around.’

McCarthy added his side have to be physically and mentally prepared for an unpredictable Highlands side and use their intelligence to overcome the Lions of the North.

‘It’s going to be very tough for my boys,’ he added. ‘Physically and mentally it is going to be very hard because Highlands Park, as we see from their stats, they are good going forward, they follow you everywhere you go.’

‘Our players have to be able to use their intelligence, and if you watched the game we played AmaZulu the intelligence we showed on the pitch.

‘We have to do exactly the same as we did against AmaZulu, and this time we just have to be more clinical in front of goal.’

Cape Town City are set to welcome highlands Park to Cape Town City when the two sides meet in the Nedbank Cup on Friday.