Sekhukhune United coach Eric Tinkler says questions related to how his side’s Betway Premiership 1-1 draw with AmaZulu went should be answered by the referee after a night of controversy over Thabang Monare’s Isiphandla at the Peter Mokaba Stadium.
Tinkler felt that his side deserved certain decisions to go their way and should have also been awarded a penalty at some point. However, the incident that dominated the game was when Babina Noko played for a lengthy period with a man down after Thabang Monare was told to go off in the sixth minute of the game.
The midfielder wasn’t injured or carded at the moment but he explained on his X (Twitter) platform that he was wearing Isiphandla (a traditional bracelet which culturally cannot be taken off until it falls off) and the referee Cedric Muvhali told him to go out and cut it off his hand. In his tweet Monare further explained that the reason he wanted to stay on the pitch with his Isiphandla still on – covered by tape – because there were other players on the pitch with theirs.
Meanwhile, the player along with his bench tried to protest the decision during the game but the protest fell on deaf ears and Sekhukhune went on to concede a goal in the 17th minute, while Monare was on the touchline. Eventually Tinkler made a forced substitution in the 20th minute, replacing Monare with Karabo Tlaka because of the situation.
Tinker was asked how he saw the game with everything that happened and he said the referee should maybe respond.
“You must ask the referee that question,” answered Tinkler when asked by IDiski Times to reflect on the game.
“Not me. He must give the answers, there’s no point of me talking about it. It’s not going to change anything.
“But I thought the team showed great character again. We didn’t start the game well, started poorly, gave away possession quite easily, but we spent 17 minutes playing with 10 men, which is ridiculous to be honest.
“Yeah 1-0 down, but I thought there was only one team really in my view. Yeah, we were chasing the game. They’re going to have a chance here and there but we responded really well, and I think we deserved more than what we got.
“Thought we had a penalty. It should have been a penalty, not a free kick outside the box. He handled the ball in the box. So ja, the result 1-1 I don’t think is a fair result. That’s my view.”
Though the Limpopo side remain unbeaten in the league and on top of the log, Tinkler felt his side were robbed points on Wednesday and that he knows there is no point in talking about match officials because he would just be fined in the end.
“Ask the referee please, don’t ask me. Ask him, he’ll be able to answer it better maybe. I’m still trying to figure it out,” added the former Bafana Bafana international when asked about the Monare situation.
“We deserve three points today and two points were taken away from us, not by AmaZulu.
“I can’t say much. I’m not allowed because then I’m bringing the league into disrepute, this and that… I’ve been there, done that and the outcome is always the same, I get fined.”
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