Benni ‘sick and tired’ of seeing his players kicked

CAPE TOWN CITY coach Benni McCarthy spoke about his players being the victims of cynical tackles and questioned why referees were not taking action against those more intent on playing the man than the ball after his team’s 1-0 defeat to AmaZulu in the PSL on Saturday.

“We need that consistency level from the refs because you can’t give life-threatening tackles to players and get away with it,” said McCarthy.

“Every single match I’m one player short, one player short due to injury and I see only yellow cards being flashed. When are we going to take action? Do we have to wait until a player is kicked and told he won’t be able to kick a ball again? I’m getting sick and tired of it. When we talk out, we’re taken to arbitration and fined. End of the matter. The Black Leopards coach (Dylan Kerr), he vents his feelings and gets a fine. So yes, tough to handle and plenty frustration.”

McCarthy singled out AmaZulu’s goal scorer Tapelo Nyongo for his malicious tackle on Craig Martin at the King Zwelithini Stadium on Saturday.

“Yes, he scored their goal and a fantastic free kick it was to beat our goalkeeper Peter Leeuwenburgh for speed, but he shouldn’t have been on the pitch after his foul on our winger that could have resulted in him breaking his leg. He gets a yellow and goes on to win the game for them,” he said.

Nyongo admitted afterwards that his tackle was a malicious one, but that he wasn’t out to injure Martin and instead said it was a moment of frustration that got the better of him.

“My apologies to Craig, I hope he will be okay and I never meant him any harm,” said Nyongo.

City only have themselves to blame for losing on Saturday. Coming into the match on a six-game unbeaten run in the league and with the chance to move up to third in the standings, City, who had won the corresponding fixture 3-0 on home turf, squandered several chances, especially in the first half and Kermit Erasmus will be kicking himself for a poorly-taken penalty in the fifth minute.

“I thought I hit it well to the right and low, but the keeper (Siyabonga Mbatha) guessed the right way and made the save. So my wait for a first goal for the club continues,” said Erasmus. “Hopefully I can make amends in our next game against Highlands Park in the Nedbank Cup on Saturday at home.”