Cape Town - Cape Town Spurs coach Shaun Bartlett was seething with anger as he made his feelings perfectly clear in no uncertain terms after his team drew 1-1 in their Motsepe Foundation Championship clash against the University of Pretoria at Athlone Stadium on Sunday.
The much-maligned referee Cedric Muvhali was the target of Bartlett's anger. The Spurs coach felt Muvhali literally blew his side out of the match, which offered the prospect of automatic promotion to the Premiership.
"Not the result I wanted from the beginning," said Bartlett. "I am never one to complain, but this was probably one of the worst games I have seen as far as officiating was concerned.
"We (Spurs) could not get anywhere near the box (because) everything went against us. We hardly touched (opposition) players (and then we were penalised) ... "
Cape Town Spurs coach Shaun Bartlett reflects on missing out on automatic to the #DStvPrem 👇 pic.twitter.com/vdrCD8z59j
AmaTuks took the lead after Muvhali awarded them a dubious free-kick 20 metres from Spurs' penalty area in the 77th minute. Spurs players appeared dumbstruck when Muvhali awarded the penalty because there was no obvious infringement.
Attacking midfielder Samuel Julies stepped up for the “spot kick” and his piledriver bulged the roof of the opposition's net, and that was the beginning of the end of Spurs' hopes of automatic promotion.
Spurs came into the match as NFD log leaders and needed to win the match to gain automatic promotion. Spurs managed a late equaliser through centre-forward Therlo Moosa.
However, the eventual 1-1 stalemate earned Spurs a season-ending second place behind champions Polokwane City, who started out as the third-placed team before Sunday's final round of fixtures.
Spurs will now join third-placed Casric Stars in the PSL promotion-relegation playoffs later this month. They will be joined by the team that finishes 15th in the Premiership.
Casric Stars also missed out on automatic promotion after they were held to a 2-2 draw by All Stars at Tsakane Stadium in Brakpan.
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