Golden Arrows co-coach Vusumuzi Vilakazi has blamed poor officiating for his team’s 3-1 loss at the hands Orlando Pirates in a DStv Premiership clash on Saturday afternoon.
Vilakazi said Abafana Bes’thende were short-changed by some of the referee’s decisions in a match he felt they deserved at least a point.
It was Monnapule Saleng, Terrence Dzvukamanja and Vincent Pule who scored for the Soweto giants while Velemseni Ndwandwe scored the consolation goal for Golden Arrows.
The result was bitter pill to swallow for coach Vilakazi, who was angered by how the match was officiated.
He said:” I’m very disappointed about the result, of course but there was a great performance from our team even though we still have a room for improvement in terms of our defensive structure.
“We started very scrappy and slow in the first half, but we managed to come back in the last ten minutes of the first half and second half, we did well and dominated and everyone created scoring opportunities.
VILAKAZI BEMOANS POOR OFFICIATING
“We equalised and we were looking at getting to score another goal up until a moment I felt disappointed and drained by the referee.
‘Obviously when we are here, we are competing and not looking for favours from the referees but we still deserve justice from referees.
“I strongly feel that the moment when Makhubela [Ntsako] was fouled changed the whole game for us. I don’t mind the goal that was there because pyschologically my team and all of us were affected by the decision from the referee.
“It’s all water under the bridge now. We just expect that referees will do justice going forward.”
Asked about his men’s endurance, the former player admitted that their inability to dominate in both halves has been one of their underlying problem.
“We are still yet to see our team dominating both halves. We have been struggling throughout the season. If I mention the other games, when we played against Chiefs, we were terrible in the first half but came strong in the second half. Against Pirates, it’s the same case.
“Last game when we played SuperSport, we did good in the first half but we struggled in the second half.
“I think it’s one aspect that we need to give attention as coaches to make sure that we we try and not struggle in both halves.
“Football is a game of two halves, but no one said take one, you need to dominate both, but it’s something in the player’s mind. I strongly feel we improve,” he added.
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