Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi has criticised the referee’s performance in their goalless draw with Swallows FC on Saturday evening.

The draw at the Dobsonville Stadium saw Masandawana maintain their unbeaten away record in the DStv Premiership this season.

Sundowns have now moved up to 61 points for the season while the Birds remained in fifth place on 43 points, both teams have still only lost once this season with two rounds of fixtures remaining in the 2020-21 season.

However, Mngqithi was not happy with the decision’s against his side as he felt they should’ve been awarded three penalties in the match.

‘It’s one of those matches. Against Swallows, a highly tactical match,’ Mngqithi told SuperSport TV after the game.

‘In the first half I felt we gave them a little bit more time and space to come at us but we improved towards the end of the first half and second half we started to put our foot forward, forcing the goalkeeper to play a lot of long balls.

‘The truth of the matter is I don’t think the officiating was at its best today. A few bad tackles, I saw three penalties to be honest. I saw a penalty on Shalulile’s tackle in the box, Vilakazi’s tackle in the box.

‘And I saw a penalty at the end of the match. I was not too happy with the officiating. Legs could have been broken. Matlaba almost broke Vila’s leg. Modiba, same thing, Mothobi, Cheeseboy. The officials are here to protect the players and make sure the match is running properly.

‘And when they don’t do that the game becomes scrappy and people lose their jobs. They get injured badly so it’s very important the referees protect the players.

‘We end up having scrappy games as a result of losing players. All these fouls you would expect some serious sanctions. That is football. We are unhappy we did not win the match but credit to the opponents because they also played very well on the day.’