SuperSport United coach Eric Tinkler has revealed that playing without fear has been the key to garnering their maiden Caf Confederation Cup final berth.

SuperSport defeated Club Africain 3-1 in the second leg of the Caf Confederation Cup semi-finals to clinch their spot in the final, courtesy of strikes by Bradley Grobler (2) and Jeremy Brockie.

‘The secret is to play with no fear,’ Tinkler told IOL upon the arrival of his team in South Africa.

‘We are going to face a team that has a lot of experience in TP Mazembe – a team that has won the Champions League and the Confederation Cup, but it is a team we have played before.

‘We needed to come here [to face Club Africain], face a hostile crowd and environment, but we needed to come and play with no fear.

‘And that is the way we have got to treat the game against Mazembe. Irrespective of all the experience that they have, we can beat them,’ he added.

The former Bafana Bafana midfielder revealed how he got the better of the Tunisian outfit in the two-legged semi-final encounter.

‘I have always thought that they are a good team, particularly in attack.

‘I think defensively that is where the frailties are, but going forward, this is a very good team. We exploited that very well. I think we are at a level or stage of the competition where all the teams you are playing against are very good teams and there for a reason.

‘Club Africain are no different. I don’t think it’s a case of them being poor on the day, but a case of us being good, hence the fact that we got the result. I thought we were really good in the first 30 minutes of the match,’ he added.

Tinkler highlighted some of the attributes which SuperSport executed successfully against Club African, saying that they deserve to be in the final.

‘Our decision-making was very good. We knew that they (Club Africain) would play in a 4-3-3 formation, but we just weren’t too sure whether they would play with the three defensive midfielders, which they did.

‘And it was to our advantage, as that meant they would be sitting back and really just hoping to hit us on the counter-attack.

‘I thought we dealt with them very well in that first 30 minutes. We created chances, got the lead and immediately after scoring, we changed the way we played.

‘I think players, to a degree, started to panic a little bit and knocking long balls. We rectified that at halftime, and I thought the response in the second half was exceptional.

‘I am extremely proud of my players, and I think we thoroughly deserve to be in the final,’ he concluded.

SuperSport travel to Congo to the first leg of the final on November 17, before playing host at the Lucas Moripe Stadium a week later.

Photo: Gavin Barker/BackpagePix