Cape Town City assistant coach Diogo Peral has explained why they could not keep up with Orlando Pirates in the MTN8 semi-final second-leg.
City succumbed to two first-half goals from Tshegofatso Mabasa and Deon Hotto and they could not recover, after ultimately suffering a 3-1 loss on aggregate.
Peral admitted that they played second fiddle to Pirates compared to the first-leg, that ended 1-1.
READ | Mabasa Hotto send Bucs to MTN8 final
"From the second-half disappointing, we thought we would have been better today. I think the guys let themselves down," Peral said on SuperSport.
"We also have to give credit where it's due. The opposition was good, they were better than us on the ball, better with the passing. Disappointed, ja.
"We were struggling in midfield, we were struggling to get the press going that worked last week and we needed guys to put their foot on the ball and get some speed on the passing. So it didn't work, we got back to the drawing board."
Peral also lamented the Citizens' lack of shots at goal and pressing as a contributing factors to their defeat.
"We were nowhere clinical as we were in that first game. The first game gave us confidence coming into this one but we have to give credit to the opposition. The press that was so successful last week, this week we couldn't get it going," he added.
"They played out easily. They were quicker getting out. We couldn't put the ball behind, we failed to turn their defence, our pass was everything to feet. They played well and we had a bad day at the office, so we have to go back to the drawing board and start again."