Peral hails City players after 'dirty tricks' in the Congo

Disclosing he was strangely barred to be in the dugout, Cape Town City assistant coach Diogo Peral can't stop raving about the character of his troops after shaking off abysmal treatment in the second leg of the first preliminary round of the CAF Champions League against Congolese side Otôho d'Oyo in Brazzaville on Sunday.

Having won 2-0 in the first leg at home the previous weekend, the goalless draw in Congo was enough for City to advance to the second preliminary phase, where they'll battle it out with Angolan giants Petro de Luanda next month. In the first leg, Peral was on the bench as head coach Eric Tinkler doesn't have the coaching qualifications needed by CAF to be on the bench in their interclub competitions.

Bizarrely, in Brazzaville, Peral was instructed by match officials he was also not allowed in the dugout. The 47-year-old, who is Tinkler's deputy, has praised City players for sticking it out under difficult circumstances in Brazzaville.

Peral holds a Uefa B licence. CAF rules stipulate CAF B should be enough for assistant coaches to be on the bench, without stating whether B licence from other federations was equivalent .

"From bad off-side decisions, there were some challenges leading up to the game. The boys did very well. There was a late penalty that was never a penalty [which Otôho missed]. Coach Tinkler told the players to not get drawn into poor officiating and they understood that because we didn't want anyone to get sent-off or anything like that,'' Peral told Sowetan yesterday.

"The boys showed character. When you come here, you can talk tactics and formations but in the end you need character and the boys showed it. I wasn't allowed off the bench either. I can't comment too much on that but I sat with coach Eric on the stands. Some Covid-19 tests came back positive but they were negative when we re-tested, so those players became available for us late in the game.''

Elsewhere, Royal AM also clinched a spot in the Confederation Cup second preliminary round after beating Swazi Mbabane Highlanders side 2-0 in the second leg of the first preliminary round at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Friday. Elias Pelembe and Ruzaigh Gamildien were on target for Thwihli Thwahla, who will meet Zambian side Zesco United in the second preliminary round next month.