Polokwane City coach Zlatko Krmpotic accused referee Victor Gomes of being one-sided during his team’s defeat on penalties to Highlands Park in the MTN8 semifinal on Tuesday night.

After 180 minutes of goalless football, as the second leg at Makhulong Stadium also ended 0-0 and the tie went straight to penalties, Highlands won the shootout 4-3.

Krmpotic said he believed Gomes’s officiating made it difficult for Polokwane.

“It’s very hard when you lose on a penalty shootout. But penalties for one side are lucky. We didn’t have the luck in this game,” said Krmpotic.

“But I must say, this referee and the decisions he made in three to five crucial moments – in the first half not giving a penalty for us, and after that in every position where it’s dangerous for Highlands Park giving a counter-foul – didn’t allow us to play this game.

“One example was in the final minute, when he gave a yellow card for Jabu Maluleke. What happened there? First he gave us a free kick and afterwards changed the decision and gave a booking [to City]. This is not normal.

"When you play against the opponent and also against the referee, this is very hard.

“But OK, I don’t want to complain now about the referee. We must do better, and we should have taken this game inside 90 minutes,” he added.

Highlands will meet the winners of Wednesday night’s semifinal second leg at Lucas Moripe Stadium between Mamelodi Sundowns and SuperSport United, who are evenly poised at 1-1 after the first leg at the same venue.