Dan Malesela questions Carling Knockout Man of the Match criteria

Marumo Gallants head coach Dan Malesela has once again raised the issue of selecting Man of the Match awards for Carling Knockout Cup matches.

Gallants have advanced to the quarter-finals of the Carling Knockout after beating Polokwane City FC 3-2 in a thrilling tie on Saturday. They will take on Stellenbosch FC in the last eight following the official draw on Sunday.

But during their last 16 match on Saturday, Malesela was puzzled after his captain Edgar Manaka was snubbed for the Man of the Match award. Manaka had a decent game providing an assist and also scoring the winning goal.

Instead, Bafana Bafana winger Oswin Appolis was voted the Man of the Match by the fans.

MARUMO GALLANTS COACH URGES MAN OF THE MAN SELECTORS TO DO BETTER

“I think he [Edgar Manaka] should have been Man of the Match. I really don’t understand, and I don’t want to sound too negative or do something like that,” said Malesela.

“But really, we need to do better when we choose. We really need to do better.”

“The fans? Do you think the fans [voted]? When did they vote? You go and look for where they voted,” he probed when reporters explained how the whole process works.

DAN MALESELA FULL OF PRAISE FOR HIS PLAYERS AFTER ADVANCING TO CARLING KNOCKOUT QUARTER-FINALS

Malesela has also praised his players for the strong mentality shown in Polokwane after a long drive from Mangaung in the Free State province.

“It’s not easy. You need to be grateful to these kids. We drive from Bloemfontein to Polokwane, and you expect them to be very tired,” he said. “But the mental strength that they displayed is just amazing. You can only be grateful. This will obviously translate to other matches.

“Particularly the league, we need to get things right and get ourselves into a good position. But let me not spoil what is happening now. I am grateful to the boys that we are going to the next round.”

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