Black Poison proved they were not potent enough to strike a deadly blow to Malandela Mighty Heroes who completed their three-season unbeaten dominance over their fellow Alex outfit.
Malandela accomplished their hat-trick record with a 1–0 win in the much-anticipated tsunami derby which lived up to its name but just lacked goals on April 2 at Alexandra Stadium.
Goals should have come from Poison had its forwards maintained the composure they displayed in their previous game against another Alex side Amajananda.
In that match, Poison was a totally different outfit and banged in five goals that surely would have sent chills down the spines of Malandela.
Malandela’s winning goal came via the perfect striking boot of Ashley Simons just before the half-time break. Malandela could have easily made it two goals had the referee not denied them what appeared to be a clear foul on Tebogo Sebotha inside the box.
If Poison had been clinical in front of goals, especially the main culprits Dimakatso Nkabane and Luyolo Mzalamba, the 4th Avenue side who used to be known as Beirut, named after the ANC-IFP wars before the democratic vote of 1994, would have won the ‘tsunami’ hands down.
Typical of a derby, tempers flared soon after the first whistle as coaches from both sides exchanged unpalatable words and the referee had to stop the game to calm them down. As if that was not enough, Malandela coach Vincent ‘Young Master’ Rammoni was red-carded by the referee for his constant remonstrations with the linesman.
He spent the last quarter of the game in the stands, only to return after the final whistle to lecture this reporter about a multitude of rules of the game he felt were violated by Poison with the apparent complicity of the referee and his linesman.
But interestingly enough, both technical benches were in agreement that the refereeing left much to be desired. “I was disappointed with the standard of refereeing which I thought was below par,” said Poison coach Andrew Matjila.
