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Cape Town - Orlando Pirates interim coach Rulani Mokwena has called for the implementation of VAR (Video Assisting Referee) after his side were denied a late penalty in the 3-3 draw with Cape Town City on Saturday.
With the sides locked at three apiece, Thabiso Monyane appeared to be illegally tackled from behind in the box in stoppage time, but the referee waved on play, much to the dismay of Mokwena, who said that the PSL executives might have to consider following in the footsteps of the English Premier League by introducing the Video Assistant Referee.
"Ja! Everyone sees it for themselves, I don't have to comment about it, everybody sees, unfortunately. No comment, everybody can see," said the Buccanneers boss.
"If he comes from behind like that and Thabiso (Monyane) is in front of the ball, is in control and inside the box, well I'm not in charge of the referees. I don't talk about refereeing decisions, to be honest. We focus on trying to improve the team. We can't control those situations.
"Once you're 2-0 [down] you go a little bit and show character. We were the better team by far after the first 15 minutes. We should have won the match; I need to see the last action clearly. I don't know, maybe we need VAR hey."
The 32-year-old tactician then bemoaned his side's inability to close out games, having led 3-2 with ten minutes to go only to let their lead slip and three points go begging.
"The same week in and week out hey. We started a little bit shaky; we go 1-0 down, we're still shaky again. We got 2-0 down against a run of play a little bit, try to find our feet again and a bit of emotional stability which we struggled with at the beginning of the match," said Mokwena.
"Positives, we fought. Orlando Pirates fights, we fought a very serious battle against a very good team. We were the strongest of the two teams on the pitch after 20 minutes. We need to work on managing critical phases, 3-2, with ten minutes to go, close shop and see the game out."
- TeamTalk
Channel 202
