Milford FC boss Xanti Pupuma criticises refereeing after Mamelodi Sundowns defeat

Milford FC head coach Xanti Pupuma says refereeing decisions played a key part in his side’s 2-0 defeat by Mamelodi Sundowns at Loftus Versfeld on Wednesday evening.

The newly promoted side had been unbeaten in their previous three matches, but that run ended against the African champions. Pupuma was particularly unhappy with the handling of several decisions, including a possible foul in the build-up to Mamelodi Sundowns’ opening goal and a second-half challenge that briefly appeared to result in a red card.

“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 after the game.

The Milford FC manager accepted that his players had been punished for their own mistakes, especially when Mamelodi Sundowns scored their second goal, but said he was encouraged by much of their performance.

“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 then detailed the incidents that had left him frustrated. He said Milford FC had previously been penalised in similar circumstances, only to see the same rules applied differently against Mamelodi Sundowns.

“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.”

Despite the defeat, Pupuma said his team would not allow the result to undermine its progress after a positive start to life following promotion. Milford FC will now turn their attention to their weekend fixture against Chippa, while Mamelodi Sundowns continue their campaign after keeping pace with Pirates.

The match at Loftus Versfeld ended with Mamelodi Sundowns claiming all three points, but Pupuma maintained that Milford FC had shown enough character and quality to recover quickly.