'Anything is possible in SA’: Arrows coach Manqoba Mngqithi after 'second half' match with SuperSport

Golden Arrows coach Manqoba Mngqithi has described the 45-minute contest with SuperSport United at Lucas Moripe Stadium on Thursday as strange and unheard of. 

Mngqithi said he hopes it does not set a bad precedent where clubs will in future switch off lights when results are not going their way hoping to complete matches later.  

SuperSport narrowly survived the dreaded promotion playoffs with a 1-1 draw with Golden Arrows to officially mark the end of the Betway Premiership campaign. 

This second half, which ended without goals, was a continuation of the match abandoned at halftime three months ago due to Lucas Moripe's lights going out amid a power failure with the score level at 1-1 at halftime. 

At that time, SuperSport opened the scoring after four minutes through the effort of Christian Saile and that goal was cancelled out in the 24th minute by Velemseni Ndwandwe for Arrows. 

SuperSport, whose future remains in doubt with rumours the club is for sale, are equal on 27 points with Cape Town City but have a better goal difference and have saved their status in the PSL. 

This means City, who finished 15th, go to the playoffs where they will play against Motsepe Foundation Championship (MFC) sides Orbit College and Casric Stars — pending an arbitration involving MFC champions Durban City — to save their PSL status. 

“It’s strange, it’s unheard of and I hope we did not set a bad precedent,” said Mngqithi. 

“If this is what is going to happen, we are going to have a lot of problems with teams switching off the lights when the going gets tough. If the mindset is not right for the match they will know at least we have a repeat the next day or after three months where we may come back better. 

“With all the changes you can still make after three months, it may be better for other teams. Personally, I have never heard of anything like this, but in South Africa anything is possible. 

“In South Africa sometimes traffic is directed by the homeless, so anything is possible.” 

SuperSport CEO Stan Matthews said they followed all the procedures set by the PSL. 

“We have done everything according to procedure, from our point of view we followed the process and we faced our DC charges and we respected the decision,” he said.. 

“Everyone has their rights to do whatever they want to do but I can’t speak for Cape Town City. As far as we are concerned, we did everything we needed to do, we complied with all the conditions put in front of us. 

“We fulfilled our league fixture and according to me and the league table we have avoided the play-offs.”