Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi slammed the match officiating of referee Thando Ndzandzeka in his team's shock defeat against Maritzburg United on Saturday night, saying the DStv Premiership should not be “turned into a banana league”.
Sundowns dominated possession and had plenty of penetration into United's area at Harry Gwala Stadium, and Mngqithi admitted his team had paid dearly for missing a number of chances. Those included when star player Themba Zwane crucially saw a penalty in the 84th minute saved by Maritzburg goalkeeper Marcel Engelhardt with the score at 1-1.
But Downs' coach said scorer Alfred Ndengane had climbed on Brazilians right-back Thapelo Morena for the 41st-minute equaliser, after Peter Shalulile headed Downs ahead in the 37th.
Mngqithi felt substitute Amadou Soukouna dived for the 92nd-minute penalty the French striker scored the winner from.
“I think we had a very dominant performance. We created far too many chances to win the match,” Mngqithi said.
“We must blame ourselves for the chances we did not take. When you don't take your chances you get punished.
“The only sad thing is we have lost our second match of the season now. And both that we lost were because of dubious decisions.
“In the first defeat to AmaZulu there was a clear offside [for their goal]. In the second to Maritzburg, for the first goal Ndengane was climbing on top of Thapelo, in the view of the referee.
Sundowns coach Mngqithi slams ref: ‘Let’s not turn this into a banana league’
Image: Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix
Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi slammed the match officiating of referee Thando Ndzandzeka in his team's shock defeat against Maritzburg United on Saturday night, saying the DStv Premiership should not be “turned into a banana league”.
Sundowns dominated possession and had plenty of penetration into United's area at Harry Gwala Stadium, and Mngqithi admitted his team had paid dearly for missing a number of chances. Those included when star player Themba Zwane crucially saw a penalty in the 84th minute saved by Maritzburg goalkeeper Marcel Engelhardt with the score at 1-1.
But Downs' coach said scorer Alfred Ndengane had climbed on Brazilians right-back Thapelo Morena for the 41st-minute equaliser, after Peter Shalulile headed Downs ahead in the 37th.
Mngqithi felt substitute Amadou Soukouna dived for the 92nd-minute penalty the French striker scored the winner from.
“I think we had a very dominant performance. We created far too many chances to win the match,” Mngqithi said.
“We must blame ourselves for the chances we did not take. When you don't take your chances you get punished.
“The only sad thing is we have lost our second match of the season now. And both that we lost were because of dubious decisions.
“In the first defeat to AmaZulu there was a clear offside [for their goal]. In the second to Maritzburg, for the first goal Ndengane was climbing on top of Thapelo, in the view of the referee.
Sundowns have one eye on record points tally
“It's not that the referee was impeded or could not see — he could see what was happening in front of him.
“Then for the penalty, the boy is diving before [goalkeeper] Kennedy Mweene even makes a challenge. It results in a penalty and then we lose a match like that.
“Now you are saying to yourself, 'Do we have to lose matches because of the decisions of the referees, or do we have to lose matches because we are not doing what we are supposed to do?'
“We take the blame for not scoring as many goals as we could have, but on the other side we're saying: no, no, let's not turn our league into a banana league.”
Leaders Sundowns (51 points from 23 games) still have a 16-point lead over second-placed Kaizer Chiefs, though Amakhosi (39 from 19) have four games in hand.
Downs' only other league defeat of 2021-22 was 1-0 against AmaZulu at Kings Park on December 20.
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