Kickoff (Cape Town)
24 November 2008
Thanda Royal Zulu coach Roger Palmgren, who normally keeps his cool, has joined the growing list of coaches who are coming out against what they term as poor officiating in the Absa Premiership.
The Swede lambasted referee Daniel Bennet intimating that he played a decisive role that led to their 4-2 downfall against Orlando Pirates on the day of the historic re-opening of the traditional home of local soccer, Orlando Stadium.
Though it was evident that Pirates dominated on the night leading to their thrilling victory, Palmgren pointed a finger at the referee.
"I usually never say anything about the referees after the match, but today it is different. I was not happy with the referee because I feel he was unfair in his decisions which led to our downfall," Palmgren told KickOff.com after the match.
"I feel we lost the match when Japie (Motale) was sent off early in the second half and that was after the referee failed to give us a penalty.
"After that sending off, it was difficult for us to regroup because we had so many decisions going against us. In the end I am not happy with how the referee handled our game.
"We are in this league to compete and we will continue doing that," Palmgren added.
Four Thanda players received yellow cards along with a red card being shown to Motale in the 55th minute for a second bookable offence on Teko Modise.
From the resultant free-kick Modise fired home the equaliser to level the game at 2-2. The visitors had taken a surprise lead after Senzo Meyiwa committed a terrible school boy blunder to let Destin Makita's back pass in.
The Durbanites were playing in front of a hostile crowd of a near capacity 40 000 fans in the revamped stadium.
With Bernard Parker, who played deep on Saturday night expected to leave, Thanda will have to go into the market during the transfer window as Nkosinathi Nhleko looks flat upfront.
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