The incident which led to UCT striker Louis-Roman Moussi Sopp getting sent off against NWU has left coach Rowan Hendricks seething.
NWU hammered the Cape side with a 6-0 drubbing at North-West Stadium, but Hendricks feels things could have been different if their frontman was not given his marching orders.
The home team’s defender Kyle Amon was sent off for a torrid tackle on Sopp, who was then given a red card for his reaction to the dangerous tackle.
“The officials were great, but I think the red card given to our striker should be spoken about as it was clear to see the NWU defender’s tackle could have broken our striker’s leg. Then still to laugh at our injured player while he’s in pain on the ground was pathetic,” Hendricks said.
The heavy defeat has plunged Ikey Warriors into last place in the Varsity Football standings and Hendricks has pleaded with his players to up their game for their remaining fixtures.
“It was a hard loss, unexpected because the team has been gaining confidence after every match they played. We played against a very good attack minded team and failed to deal well with what was thrown at us.
We played without desire, passion and commitment and for me as a coach that's very hard to take,” he added.
The one-time Bafana player says he will working on his team’s defence this week as they seek to scatter the dark cloud that has been hanging over the team in recent weeks.
“We need to defend much better and be more organized and assist each other in every department. In the next three matches, I've told the team to give their all on the field as some of them will be graduating and it will be their last Varsity Football tournament,” he said.
UCT have a tough task ahead next week as they face giant-killers UJ, who have been performing well in their debut Varsity Football season.
