Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro accused AmaZulu players of killing time and breaking their play as they drew 0-0 with the Durban-based side at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Wednesday.
Usuthu goalkeeper Veli Mothwa was seen clutching his legs to signal to the referee that he was suffering from the cramps several times.
The behaviour of the AmaZulu skipper and his teammates overall was highlighted by Riveiro, who was not amused by these antics, saying it didn’t allow for real flow of the game.
“After the amount of interruptions, I’m not used to saying anything about it but there was too much, in my opinion,” reflected Riveiro after the game, with Pirates having one more rest day than their opponents, who played on Saturday.
“Our rhythm did get to a period of interruptions – subs, physio coming to the field, I don’t know but it was a crazy number. The players needed attention today and their goalkeeper was injured the whole 90 minutes and I hope he is getting better now [much to the laughter of the media at the press conference].
“So in the end these types of scenarios I’m not used to in football. But in the end five minutes of injury-time in the first half and six minute in the second of injury-time, but the rhythm was broken already, it is difficult to come back.”
Pirates, who grabbed the initiative of the game but were not able to create a clear cut chance to breach Usuthu’s defence, moved one step up in the DStv Premiership table to 13th with eight points after six matches.
They could have won the game but striker Evidence Makgopa flashed a header wide when he was presented with the best of the game in the 76th minute after Karim Kimvuidi set him up.
Later, the Bucs coach Riveiro even threw striker Zakhele Lepasa on for Makgopa but it didn’t yield the results he would have hoped for.
It was clear AmaZulu were the happier of the two sides to get a point at home, but they have not defeated Pirates in Durban since October 2009 when the game was played at Chatsworth Stadium and the last time beat the Soweto giants was in August 2013.
