NEWS: ‘Again, a scandal, a huge scandal’ – Pablo Franco Martin slams officiating in defeat to Orlando Pirates as AmaZulu crash out of Nedbank Cup

Usuthu had taken a 30-minute lead through Hendrick Ekstein at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday only for Bucs to fire themselves level from the spot at the end of the first half through Patrick Maswanganyi.

Martin’s side subsequently went a goal down on 58 minutes when Kabelo Dlamini hit the target but bounced back through Taariq Fielies just five minutes later.

However, a rampant Bucs closed out the game in the final stages when Makhehlene Makhaula scored with eight minutes to play, and Maswanganyi fired home again in stoppage time.

Speaking after the encounter, an angry Usuthu boss explained that Pirates didn’t need any help from the officials in their pursuit of victory.

He said on SuperSport: “Do you want me to talk about football or what really decided this game? I’m asking you, football or what really decided this game? This is the problem we’re having here the games are decided by some people who aren’t players.

“Again, a scandal, a huge scandal, we played against the best team in [cup] competitions and we reached after 12 years the quarter-finals of the Nedbank Cup, after 15 minutes where they dominated us, we balanced, we took the lead.

“We won the first half, even if the scoreboard says something different, we won it. And in the second half, it was an open game, nice game, nice fight, we got back to 2-2, we hit the crossbar, and we could have won the game from there.

“But in the end with this score, it’s as if they won in a fair way and it’s not true, it’s something happening the whole season with AmaZulu, the results are decided by someone else, who thinks we don’t have family, that we don’t work very hard.”

Martin added: “We want want we deserve. Do you need me to tell you? It was not evident? Do you really need to ask me the question? Did you not watch the game, and the images, what happened.

“We could have received a red card [after the penalty decision] which was crazy, the normal thing is we could normally control ourselves but my team, after such scandal, we came back into the pitch with controlled emotions.

“We played with discipline and quality and okay we didn’t get the result, when you play against these circumstances, it’s a pity but we’re now used to it, you know, we know what we can expect when we playing these kinds of opponents. It’s a shame for the country.”