Eric Tinkler has expressed how proud he was of his Cape Town City side for the clean sheet earned against Bidvest Wits in the second leg of their MTN8 semi-final.

In the second leg, City played out to a goalless draw with Wits, however, the Clever Boys advanced to the finals of the tournament following their3-0 victory in the first leg.

Tinkler says in the first half his side were under a lot of pressure and couldn’t create enough chances at goal, let alone string a few passes together.

However, the former Orlando Pirates coach believes his side came out stronger in the second half and managed to produce more opportunities at goal with a more direct approach.

‘Overall, first half we struggled, they put us under a hell of a lot of pressure, we struggled to create any combinations, we couldn’t keep the ball for more than three or four passes and we created very little,’ Tinkler said after the match.

‘Second half I thought we made good changes and we started to play a little bit more direct and it worked for us and we started to get those chances.’

The 46-year-old coach says he is proud of his side’s performance in the second leg and he believes they showed real character during the match.

‘Proud of the boys, it’s not easy to come from a 3-0 deficit in the first leg but they showed character tonight,’ he added.

‘It would have been nice to get a goal at the end but it’s good that we didn’t concede against a team like Bidvest Wits so I’m proud of the performance of the boys.’

Cape Town City will now travel to the Orlando Stadium when they face Orlando Pirates in the Absa Premiership on Tuesday.

Kick-off has been set for 19:30.