Vexed Tinkler lambasts poor officiating in PSL: 'Refs costing coaches their livelihood'

A red-faced and frustrated Cape Town City head coach Eric Tinkler was vocal about the standard of refereeing in South Africa’s top-flight following their penalty shootout defeat to Royal AM in the Nedbank Cup Round of 32 clash at Cape Town Stadium on Sunday.

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The visiting Thwihli Thwahla held the Citizens to a goalless draw after regular time in a match that the hosts were favoured to win, given their squandered chances.

However, John Maduka, who returned to the KwaZulu-Natal side as a mentor, and his charges put on a bold defensive display. They dragged the duel to a penalty shootout, winning 4-3 and advancing to the last 16 draw later this week.

But Bafana Bafana legend Tinkler felt that his side should have been awarded a penalty and labelled referee Michael Moreseng's officiating as "poor" during his post-match press conference.

The 51-year-old said that more needs to be done to improve the standard of refereeing in the country.

"The way I see it, there should have been one winner tonight. This is the harsh reality. And the ones who have to deal with it is me. I have to deal with it.

"Referees make mistakes - they don’t have to deal with anything. I have to deal with the repercussions.

"I have to deal with the chairman and explain why we lost when we shouldn’t have lost. Then I have to deal with the players and the disappointment. People don’t see that side.

"We need to be doing a lot more when it comes to our officiating because it is costing coaches their livelihood because they are being judged by mistakes of referees.

"Maybe I should not be talking about this, but I am talking about it."

Tinkler was then asked how his team lost