AmaZulu FC boss Sandile Zungu has come out in defence of head coach Benni McCarthy after a recent incident during a DStv Premiership clash against SuperSport United on Tuesday.
McCarthy was caught on camera in a heated exchange with counterpart Kaitano Tembo during his side's goalless draw in a feisty league encounter that saw Tercious Malepe sent off.
READ | Barker: We were all like Benni at one stage
"AmaZulu has been the victim of terrible refereeing lately," Zungu tells snl24.com/kickoff.
"Particularly in our CAF Champions League match against the Malawian team. It was so terrible, zero out ten kind of refereeing. While it's not the first time.
"So you can understand why the coach feels agitated because he puts so much effort into preparing the team to compete.
"I think that he's got no control over how referees officiate and he's human as well so he gets agitated.
"I'm in full support of him. We've always known that he does get animated, and we've got no problem with that whatsoever.
"If the officials feel his actions are worthy of yellow cards and red cards they will take action at the time. But we are not dealing with yellow cards or red cards for Benni McCarthy. So it's all in the game.
"But we are deeply concerned with the quality of refereeing. We've been the victim of bad refereeing decisions. I saw that game as unfortunately I was not at the Stadium but I was watching it on TV. I don't think that there's anything wrong with what Benni did."
Zungu is also not expecting the Premier Soccer League to charge McCarthy for his actions.
"Why would they charge him? What I know is that the game we played against Nyasa Big Bullets was terrible. Benni was much closer to the situation yesterday, I was not at the Stadium. But what I saw on TV Benni had some justification for being animated.
"So as far as AmaZulu are concerned, we had a string of misfortunes, and things that are under our control we will correct. But things that are out of our control we will express alarm such as poor refereeing."
AmaZulu will next be aiming to overturn a 1-0 deficit in a return leg in a first preliminary round fixture against Big Bullets at the Bingu National Stadium in Malawi.
Kick-off is at 16:00.
McCarthy is one of a number of former Bafana Bafana stars who have taken up coaching