SuperSport coach Tembo questions Bhasera’s red card

SuperSport United’s 3-1 loss to Absa Premiership table-toppers Polokwane City forced Kaitano Tembo to break out of character and launch a verbal outbreak at referee Khulekani Thusi, who Tembo believes the man in the middle incorrectly sent out his defender Onismor Bhasera at the end of the first-half.

“When we play we just want to play football, we are not a team that complains about match officials but what is important is for the referees to be a little bit consistent. The reason I went to him was because I wanted to speak to him about the red card and tell him that he had made a mistake,” said Tembo.

“It was a dubious red card where it should have been the other way around and it has been happening in other games where the red card could have gone the other side. Sometimes you have to take it and move one. He is the one who was kicked. He got to the ball and got the injury,” he adds.

Tembo made surprise omissions in his team from the onset when he named his red-hot striking duo of Bradley Grobler and Thamsanqa Gabuza on the bench, but they later came on in the second interval.

“We played about three games in seven days. We needed to try and manage the squad and manage the legs otherwise we’d risk losing players through injury because of overloading them. There are still a lot of games to play and we need to save them.

“It has been a tough seven games for us but that is not an excuse, it is normal. This is a tough league and I am proud of the guys, I think they have done extremely well to be where they are at the moment when we consider the type of matches that we played. It is still early days but we are still happy where we are. I look at the performance and if I am happy I don’t really mind the way we conceded,” said Tembo before he explained why he withdrew young sensation Sipho Mbule just after 36 minutes.

“It was due to his performance, he was flat. He is 21-years-old and he played in the last three games. It takes a lot on these youngsters so you need to try and manage them. He wasn’t himself, he was not fresh and that is why I had to take him out.”

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