Cape Town City coach Eric Tinkler says he was relieved after his side claimed a 2-0 victory over Polokwane City in their opening Absa Premiership match on Tuesday.

Goals from Bongi Jayiya and Aubrey Ngoma was enough to hand City their first victory in the Absa Premiership.

The former Buccaneers coach says it was important for the team to start their season in the topflight with a win after owner John Comitis purchased Mpumalanga Black Aces’ PSL status that left them short on players.

‘It was very important because we are talking about a new club,’ Tinkler said.

‘When I arrived here we had no defence. We had a right-back only in [Vincent] Kobola. We had to rebuild the whole defence and strengthen the team.

‘Truth be told, I knew I would only know where we are after today. After the 90 minutes, I have a true reflection of where we are and whether we made the right choices in terms of the players we brought in. I feel we have.’

Tinkler insists his side still has much to do and he believes the team still needs more time together in order to play as a unit.

‘But there is still a lot of work to be done, these guys need to get a better understanding in terms of their strengths and their weaknesses and playing together. We need to create some sort of cohesion and consistency in our play,’ he added.

‘Do I think we have the talent here? I do. Will we be competitive this year? I think we will be.’

Cape Town City will now welcome Kaizer Chiefs in the MTN8 quarterfinal clash at the Cape Town Stadium on Friday.

Kick-off has been set for 20:00.