Pitso says Highlands Park benefited with Shalulile ‘handball’

Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Pitso Mosimane feels his side was let down by the officiating in their 1-1 Absa Premiership draw with Highlands Park on Friday.

According to an unhappy “Jingles”, one of the assistant referees was at fault for failing to spot what he believes was a handball by striker Peter Shalulile.

The Highlands Park marksman opened the scoring in a 1-1 draw against the defending Absa Premiership champions, scoring a thunderous goal that earned the Lions of the North a point to keep up their hopes of making the cut for next season’s MTN8.

“We had some unfortunate situations in the last two games. Against Orlando Pirates (on Tuesday) we were a little bit unfortunate that the referee did not see the ball that was dragged by the hand on the ground (by Happy Jele). Again we were on the receiving end to be honest,” said Mosimane, whose side are now three points behind league leaders, Kaizer Chiefs with the two sides still to face off on August 27.

Mosimane added: “The goal that Shalulile scored, he brought it down with his hand and it had a little power and you can’t expect Denis Onyango to save that. That’s football, it is the way it is, we are not happy with a point but we move on.”

Meanwhile, Highlands coach Owen Da Gama has hailed his striker as one of the best in the top-flight as he banged in his 13^th league goal, trailing the division’s leading marksman, Gabadinho Mhango of the Buccaneers by a single goal.

“For me as his coach, I definitely think Shalulile deserves to be one of the best strikers in the league … when you look at it, he plays alone up front with Lindokuhle Mbatha behind him. I can imagine if he had another partner, how much pressure that could have taken off him,” said Da Gama.

“I just think he is an unbelievable striker and there are more goals to come from him. We certainly hope that he is among the top goal scorers if not the top goal scorer at the end of the season,” Da Gama added.

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