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Cape Town - Highlands Park head coach Owen da Gama cut a frustrated figure after his side were edged out 1-0 by Orlando Pirates on Tuesday with a controversial winner.
The game looked set to end goalless in Tembisa, but Tshegofatso Mabasa scored a late winner to clinch the three points for the Buccaneers.
However, Da Gama was outraged by the goal. He believes Mabasa was metres offside but the linesman failed to raise his flag and the goal stood. Da Gama was not only disappointed by the decision but also added that it's bad for South African football in general.
"First and foremost congratulations to Orlando Pirates, I think they were very spirited. But we created enough chances, we could have got one but it was not meant to be, give credit to them, they defended well," Da Gama told SuperSport TV.
"But we coaches get criticised a lot when officials make mistakes, from a little bit that I saw and I know, we've captured it, the guy [Mabasa] was offside, three metres offside! The very same linesman on the far end, Orlando Pirates headed the ball and he blew an offside for us.
"Three metres off! Look at it! So it is very painful to lose for this, if this is going to continue in this country, our football is not going to go far.
"Not to take anything away from Pirates, they played very well, they created opportunities, they are a fantastic team but that? Somebody must go to jail for that! That is wrong! You can't do such things!
"I'm sorry we had to lose in this fashion, we'll take it on a jaw once more, I thought the referee and the [other] linesman were superb but the linesman on the far end, I think we need to look into this."
- TeamTalk Media
