Leopards coach furious with ref

Vereeniging - Following their goalless stalemate against Jomo Cosmos on Wednesday, Black Leopards coach Zeca Marques was left infuriated by the standard of refereeing, citing his players were not protected by the referee during the match.

Leopards and Cosmos shared the spoils in their PSL and NFD relegation/promotion playoffs clash at Vaal University of Technology.

“Lollipop” believes his charges could have emerged victorious if the match officials were not “against” them. He also insisted that Lidoda Duvha could have been three goals ahead at the half-time break.

“First half was very great for us and it could have ended 3-0 in our favour,” insisted Marques.

“But again it was very difficult to play against a team like Jomo Cosmos away from home.

“We never had any protection from the referee and our players were being kicked out from every angle.

“And the minute we started making tackles the yellow cards were flying high against us.

“So obviously our players felt intimidated and it really affected us.

“We are not a physical team, we love to play football and our players were no longer comfortable at all because the elbows and tackles from behind were flying in but the referee did nothing to protect them.

“I don’t think it was a fair result at all and we could have won the game if the referee was objective.”

Leopards will play their final playoffs game against Moroka Swallows at Thohoyandou Stadium on Sunday.

Kick-off is set to commence at 15:00.