Tinkler fell on the floor in defeat against Kaizer Chiefs in his first game in charge on December 6 last year, after the departure of Vladimir Vermezovic, and is back on the bench for the latest edition of Sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest football fixture, which kicks off on Saturday afternoon at the FNB Stadium.
“I have had more time to work with the team now,” says Tinkler, whose only defeat since taking charge of the team was in that game against Chiefs.
“Prior to the previous derby I only, basically, had two days to work with the team, and it was a difficult period as we had lost Senzo [Meyiwa] and had a coach (VV) departing.
“The motivation is there now and the players are doing exceptionally well for me, and showing professional attitudes and a high work rate. We have been grinding out results, which is something that I am very proud of.
“I am going into this game with a very positive mind-set and I am pretty sure that the performance that we will put in will be much better than the one we put in the last derby,” he adds.
The former Bafana Bafana midfield strongman adds that Saturday’s game should also be payback time, and provide the elasticity to stretching this league race down to the end of the season.
“My first game in charge was against Kaizer Chiefs, and we lost, so this will be a bit of payback from the last result,” says Tinkler.
“It was unfortunate that we lost the top 8 and the first league match and we would like to turn that tide.
“Something that I didn’t know is that it has been a very long time since Pirates got a win or a draw prior to a derby, so the fact that we got a draw [against Free State Stars] hopefully sends a good message that we are ready and prepared for this game.
“I would like to reverse that and get a positive result, and make the title chase interesting because I don’t think anyone will want to see Chiefs win the title with five-to-six games still to be played,” he states.
“People will like the interest to remain right through till the end of the season, and we will obviously play a part in trying to do that. It is important that we continue picking up points and continue applying pressure on the teams that are above us.
“We would like to see this league go right until the death and make it as interesting as possible. We want to finish as high up as possible and we still have nine games remaining, and 27 points to play for.
“We want to try and collect as many points as we can,” emphasises the caretaker coach.