Cape Town City need to find consistency if they want to be seen as big boys in the South African game.
Saturday’s 4-1 defeat to Kaizer Chiefs on their home patch just doesn’t look good for coach Benni McCarthy and the ambitions of his players.
City now have just one win from five PSL matches, which is a far cry from the form that has carried them to the MTN8 final.
Against a Chiefs side that was winless in the league up until the final whistle at Cape Town, City failed to dominate in the final third of the pitch.
They were soon undone by a setpiece in the 12th minute. A routine ball into the box from ex-skipper Lebo Manyama was not headed out and they were punished by Siyabonga Ngezana.
Former Chiefs striker Matthew Rusike would hit back in the 25th minute with a header from a City corner, but that’s as good as it got for the hosts.
They just never threatened Amakhosi when in possession were down 2-1 early in the second half when Man of the Match Khama Billiat glanced a header in at Peter Leeuwenburgh’s far post.
With them needing to chase the game, it certainly didn’t help when Taariq Fielies was shown a red card with 20 minutes to go after a second bookable offence.
After that Chiefs picked City apart, with Billiat and Philani Zulu sealing the points.
Benni says going down to 10 men cost them big time, but believes the referee was harsh.
He says: “It was a massive setback for us when we were down to 10 players. What can I say, we’ve done everything we possibly could.
“But when you’re playing against a Kaizer Chiefs team and their best player is the referee, then you know you’ve got no chance.
“I know the league [PSL DC] is going to come for me but they are more than welcome.
“I’m just a bit fed up, not because we got hammered 4-1, it’s bad enough, but ja, I have to pick my boys up because we’ve got another tough one coming on Wednesday against Pirates.”
PSL weekend result:
Pirates 3 SuperSport 1
Polokwane City 1 FS Stars 0
Maritzburg United 0 Wits 0
Chippa United 1 Barola 0
AmaZulu 3 Sundowns 3
Highlands Park 2 Arrows 1
Leopards 0 Bloem Celtic 1