Milford FC boss Xanti Pupuma criticises officiating after Sundowns defeat

Milford FC coach Xanti Pupuma said he was left frustrated by the officiating after his side’s 2-0 defeat by Mamelodi Sundowns in the Betway Premiership on Wednesday night.

The top-flight debutants produced a spirited performance and threatened to cause an upset, but conceded just before half-time when Iqraam Rayners finished simply to give Sundowns the lead.

Antonio Van Wyk added a second goal late in the match to secure victory for Mamelodi Sundowns, who moved level with Bucs.

Pupuma said he believed the laws of the game had not been applied consistently during the match, and claimed Milford FC had been judged more harshly in similar situations earlier in the season.

“To be honest, it’s the first time I leave a game with a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth. Maybe from all the coke I’ve been drinking. But really, I think some of the rules they apply to us but not to other teams,” Pupuma told SuperSport TV.

The Milford FC coach accepted that his team had been responsible for allowing Sundowns to score, particularly for the second goal, but felt his players had shown plenty of character against one of the leading sides in the division.

“It’s a bit unfair, look at the end of the day, we had to win the game and they scored goals, the second goal ja…my players fell asleep, maybe the changes caused that. Overall, I think the display how they represented themselves was quite good especially in the first half and parts of the second half,” he added.

Pupuma’s irritation centred on what he viewed as contrasting decisions by the match officials. He said Milford FC had previously seen similar rules enforced against them, only for the same principles not to be applied when decisions went against their opponents.

He also questioned an incident in the second half when the referee initially produced a red card after a tackle in midfield, before putting it away and showing a yellow card after appearing to identify the player involved.

“You’re right, I’m actually annoyed by that because we’ve been in that position before and those rules were applied to us and when it comes, we hear it’s not applied, not just that even in the second half when there was a tackle there in the middle of the park- the referee takes out a red-card and even puts it back and gives the yellow card after seeing who he was about to caution.

“I know these things, they mess it up for us and they mess up a good game where we really came to impose ourselves but we not going to look down on ourselves, we going to pick ourselves up and play Chippa on the weekend and see what happens,” Pupuma said.

Milford FC will now turn their attention to their weekend meeting with Chippa, as Pupuma’s side look to respond to their first defeat after making their debut in the top flight.