Plays of theweek
Star
This was the week when Kaizer Chiefs gave the biggest indication yet that they are here to stay in the Absa Premiership title race, beating Mamelodi Sundowns on their own turf at Loftus Versfeld to move five points clear at the top of the table. The star of the show was Samir Nurkovic, who is proving to be a fantastic acquisition this season, with both his ability to hold up play and create opportunities for others, and hit the back of the net himself. Against Sundowns Nurkovic netted twice, getting on the end of a far post tap-in in the early stages, and killing off the game with a sharp second-half finish.
Flop
Orlando Pirates got back to winning ways in the Absa Premiership on Tuesday evening, but Highlands Park coach Owen da Gama was rightly fuming after some dreadful officiating helped the Buccaneers over the line. First, referee Abongile Tom only brandished a yellow card to Tshegofatso Mabasa after an awful first-half flying tackle on Lindokuhle Mbatha. The Pirates striker leapt kung-fu style into the challenge, with both feet off the ground and was lucky he didn’t break Mbatha’s leg. It was a red card all day long. To make matters worse, Mabasa then scored the winner for Pirates from a position so offside he was practically in another time zone, but assistant referee Buyisile Ngqambiyana somehow failed to spot this.
Quote
“The whole world saw it, it was three metres offside. Let’s not take anything away from Pirates, I think they played well. The linesman on the near side and the referee did a good job. But that linesman on the far end… I think should go to jail. You cannot do that at this level. People’s lives are at stake here, players are working for their families and they work hard all week for somebody to do something like this. If it is a 50-50 then you can understand, but an off-side like that… it is shameful for the football in our country and something has to be done about that.” – Da Gama perhaps goes a little too far by suggesting imprisonment over Ngqambiyana’s howler.