The Buccaneers travel to Cairo ahead of their final group fixture against current Group B leaders Zamalek on Sunday evening, with both sides already ensured of progression to the knockout stage of this year’s competition.
Tinkler says his troops will head into this weekend’s encounter with nothing but three points in their sights as they attempt to avenge their 2-1 defeat at home in Nelspruit two months ago.
“I think we’re all looking forward to the challenge of playing against a very good team such as Zamalek,” he says.
“Obviously we would like to try and reverse the result that we had against them at home in Mbombela.”
A win over the Egyptian side would ensure Pirates leapfrog their opponents into first place, as both teams currently sit on 12 points from five games with the same goal-difference, however, Zamalek lead due to a higher number of goals scored.
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Tinkler feels finishing top of the group would be an achievement, while also giving them the slight advantage of home comforts in the semi-final second leg.
“We would like to finish top of the group, and I think that would be a fantastic achievement,” he adds.
“The players know the importance of trying to win the group, because obviously we would like to find ourselves in the semi-final stage playing away from home first and then getting the second leg at home.
“It’s been quite good for us, if we look at our trajectory to where we are now then [you’ll find] that’s what happened in the majority of the games, we first played away and then we played at home and it bore great results for us.”
The former Bidvest Wits assistant is also aware that a draw against Zamalek will not suffice in their quest for top spot as Pirates need to score more goals to gain a superior goal-difference.
Kick-off on Sunday evening has been set for 20h30 at the 25 000-seater Petro Sport Stadium.