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Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
COULD it be a case of sour grapes or coaches are justified to frown upon the standards of match officiating in Zimbabwe that are now seen as a cancer that is threatening local football?

Of late, noises about poor officiating in the Premier Soccer League (PSL) are low, but there are a few officials that continue to hog the limelight with questionable refereeing.

The diminishing standard of refereeing in Zimbabwe has been topical, with Zifa stating the need to improve officiating following a reshuffle of the referees’ committee.

Some referees appear hell-bent to spoil the game with incompetent officiating, as they seem to be justifying the decision by Caf and Fifa not to include Zimbabwean referees at major football competitions.

It is not all referees who spoil the broth, some put up stellar performances and avoid dragging their names into the mud.

At the weekend, at least three coaches, whose teams lost their respective matches, questioned the way the official handled their games as they felt that the referees could have done better.

Relegation threatened Bulawayo City felt robbed by Hwange-based referee Hardly Ndazi’s decision to award Herentals a lastminute penalty that led to their 1-0 defeat at Barbourfields Stadium.

With the match seemingly headed for a draw, Ndazi, not new to controversy, decided that the coming together of City defender Wilfred Munorwei and Herentals’ substitute Prince Chama constituted an impediment on the Student’s player.

Brighton Majarira converted the spot kick to condemn City to a second consecutive loss after they went down by a similar margin against Highlanders at the same venue.

“I don’t know if I lost, I don’t want to comment. If teams are playing with a balanced scale, why give a favour? If teams are playing balanced, let them play. We might have not done well in terms of performance but I think we were still in there.

“What I saw and what the referee did, I don’t want to talk about it, because I think we didn’t defend well, that’s why I say I don’t want to comment about the penalty,” Bulawayo City’s coach Farai Tawachera said in his post-match interview.

Bulawayo City remained glued on position 16 with 21 points and a draw against Herentals would have seen them being level on 22 points with Harare City who lost 2-0 to champions FC Platinum.

At Baobab Stadium, there was a 13-minute stoppage as Triangle United protested Ngezi Platinum Stars’ 79th minute opening goal, scored by Ariel Makopa, which the Lowveld side argued didn’t cross the line.

The visitors, who lost the game 2-0, thought defender Tinashe Kabanda had done well to clear the ball, but assistant referee Polite Dube signalled for a goal with referee Thembinkosi Sibanda pointing to the centre to spark chaos from Triangle.

Their players mobbed the referees, prompting police details to enter the pitch to provide protection.

Veteran Triangle coach Jairos Tapera, whose side is on position seven with 34 points, a point and a place above Ngezi, declined to comment in fear of being sanctioned for bringing the game into disrepute.

“I cannot comment on that incident, what I can only say is we lost 2-0 to Ngezi Platinum Stars who played better than us in the second half,” said Tapera.

At the National Sports Stadium, Bulawayo Chiefs coach Nilton Terroso gave a 15-second post-match interview, as he appeared to be upset with the officiating.

Gweru-based referee Busani Siwawa turned down a Chiefs penalty shout after Arthur Musiyiwa appeared to have been fouled inside the box.

Siwawa is the same referee who handled the Ngezi home match against Dynamos which ended 0-0 as well as the 1-1 draw between Chicken Inn and Highlanders.

In both games, coaches expressed disappointments on how he handled the encounters.

Chiefs, guilty of squandering numerous scoring opportunities as they played with determination and could have salvaged something from the away trip had they been clinical in the final third, felt the penalty call turned down by Siwawa could have changed the complexion of the game to their favour.

Chiefs goalkeeper Matripples Muleya made a number of saves that kept the score-line respectable, but his coach was upset by the match officiating even though he refused to comment about it.

“I think we played well and congratulations to Dynamos.

That’s all I have. I don’t have an opinion on anything else,” said Terroso.

PSL Matchday 23 results

Saturday: ZPC Kariba 0-0 Chicken Inn, Harare City 0-2 FC Platinum, Black Rhinos 1-0 Cranborne Bullets, Bulawayo City 0-1 Herentals, Whawha 1-2 Caps United

Sunday: Ngezi Platinum Stars 2-0 Triangle United, Manica Diamonds 1-1 Yadah, Highlanders 0-0 Tenax CS FC, Dynamos 2-0 Bulawayo Chiefs

— @ZililoR