JOHANNESBURG – As if the fight to avoid relegation wasn’t hard enough, Black Leopards coach Dylan Kerr also has to mend the cracks in the team that were exposed by their 2-1 loss to Maritzburg United.
United’s win over Leopards pulled the Limpopo side into the relegation dogfight.
What compounded Leopards’ woes was the confrontation that ensued after the loss, as players didn’t take kindly to goalkeeper King Ndlovu running half the length of the pitch to take a free kick in the dying minutes.
Ndlovu skied his effort way over the bar in search of an Oscarine Masuluke moment. The former Baroka FC goalkeeper became an instant hit in 2016 with his bicycle kick against Orlando Pirates.
The goal gave Leopards a point and earned Masuluke a nomination for the Fifa Puskas award.
Ndlovu on the other hand rubbed his teammates the wrong way with his stunt.
“I don’t mind the anger and craziness in football, but it’s got to be done right,” Kerr said. “You can’t tell the coach to f*** off. You can’t!
“I am totally frustrated. You know, my chairman comes into the change room and we would have an argument and a disagreement, but you don’t tell your boss to f*** off. It’s plain and simple. It was wrong (for Ndlovu to take the kick). That shouldn’t have happened.
That happens on a Sunday league football pitch, not in the PSL and not in any top league. Whether I am right or wrong, I am the boss. I am the boss. You see funny things in football.”
Kerr has to ensure that doesn’t affect his team when they take on Mamelodi Sundowns tonight in the league.
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The Brazilians come into this match after losing to Wydad Casablanca 2-1 in Rabat on Friday in the first leg of their CAF Champions League semifinal. Sundowns are looking for maximum points to go level with first-placed Orlando Pirates.
“It’s not football! It’s not good for the team spirit (what Ndlovu did),” Kerr said. “But we have to move on now.
“Maritzburg are where they are, because they are the worst team in the league. Sundowns are the best team in the league. It doesn’t matter where they are in the log. Sundowns have the best players. They went to Wydad and came out with a decent result even though they got beaten. Pitso (Mosimane) is desperate to win the league.
“He is desperate to beat Pirates, Wits and Cape Town City in the battle for the league.”
The race for the championship is heating up along with the race to avoid the drop.
Maritzburg and Chippa United occupy the bottom two positions, but they are breathing down the neck of Leopards.
A win tonight for Leopards would take them to 12th place.
“They are frustrated. They are anxious. They don’t want to go down. It’s a massive dream this, to stay in the PSL,” Kerr said.