Sekhukhune United were left frustrated by the dismissal of their head coach, Cedric Kaze, with assistant Paulus Masehe suggesting the incident was the result of an unfortunate misunderstanding rather than misconduct.
Kaze was shown a straight red card during the closing stages of Sekhukhune’s 2-0 defeat by Orlando Pirates on Tuesday, leaving him facing the prospect of missing the MTN8 semi-final second leg against the same opponents.
For Masehe, the decision was difficult to understand.
“I honestly don’t think that whatever he said deserved the punishment,” he told SuperSport TV. “It was a little bit of a misunderstanding between our coach and the fourth official. However, there’s nothing that we can say.”
The dismissal was another frustration for Sekhukhune during a week in which they have faced Pirates twice. More concerning for the technical staff was their inability to make their defensive approach count in attack.
Masehe felt the team’s compact shape had succeeded in restricting Pirates, but Sekhukhune repeatedly failed to exploit the spaces that opened when possession was regained.
“We were able to frustrate them, but after winning the ball, we were not efficient enough in our break or counter-attack,” he said.
The assistant coach pointed to the occasions when Sekhukhune attacked the space behind Deon Hotto as evidence of what might have been possible.
“The fewer times we did it in behind Hotto, we were able to get crosses from Nkosi and created chances from that.”
Instead, Pirates established control and added a second goal while Sekhukhune were pushing for a response.
For Masehe, the lesson is clear. If Sekhukhune are to overturn the deficit in the MTN8, they will need to turn their defensive discipline into a much greater attacking threat.