Former Premier Soccer League referee Victor ‘The Principal’ Hlungwani believes Thabiso Sesane was lucky to escape a red card against Richards Bay.
Sesane, who has experienced a meteoric rise under Jose Riveiro at Pirates, received a yellow card early on in the game for a foul on Justice Figuareido.
However, Hlungwani believes match official Masixole Bambiso made the wrong decision and should have sent the Pirates defender off.
“Sesane did what we call DOGSO – Denying of an Obvious Goal Scoring Opportunity,” he explained on Soccerzone.
“You can see the ball is played to Figuareido – Figuareido is in front, let’s go to [assess] the DOGSO elements.
“Distance to goal, very close. Direction of play, towards goal. Likelihood and control of the ball, this player is in front, so likelihood of him controlling the ball, we give it a tick.
“Location of defenders, we have a player who is far here. So an opportunity was denied for Richards Bay to score. So this was supposed to be a red card for DOGSO because he denied an obvious goalscoring opportunity by committing this offence.”
The Buccaneers ended up winning the match thanks to a late free-kick by Kabelo Dlamini, continuing their 100% start to the league campaign.
