Parker dived like he was getting into a swimming pool, says irate Pirates boss

Orlando Pirates coach Rulani Mokwena was clearly enraged with the penalty that gave bitter rivals Kaizer Chiefs a 3-2 victory over his side at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg on Saturday. He likened Bernard Parker’s fall to the ground when he was touched by Paseka Mako to a big dive into a swimming pool.

“Parker goes and gets a swimming pool [dive], but I can’t talk too much about it,” Mokwena said of the 84th-minute penalty, which helped Chiefs break their five-year winless run against their rivals in the Absa Premiership.

“Like I said, I’ve watched it,” said Mokwena of the penalty incident. “I’ve gone inside and watched it time and time again. My analysts have shown me all the incidents.”

The Bucs coach went on to say he believed Chiefs coach Ernst Middendorp, having looked at the footage, would find it in his heart to agree with him.

“I know that coach Ernst does his homework and I know he’s going to watch the incidents. He’s a man of integrity and I think he will accept some of the things that happened on the pitch.

“I think after he watches ... he will come back and he will be honest and say some of the incidents really, really are unfortunate.

“It really shouldn’t be on the pitch,” he said.

Mokwena went on to take another swipe at Chiefs when asked what he will be doing with his team during the Fifa break, which starts today and ends on November 19.

“I’m looking forward to the Fifa break. Fortunately or unfortunately, doctors have to work on broken noses, bruised eyes, broken knees. That’s the first thing,” he said.

“And the second thing is I’m definitely not working on taekwondo, judo, or swimming,” he said to much laughter, as he wrapped up his post-match comments.

Mokwena had great things to say, though, about the gallant effort of his players, who came back from 2-0 to level matters, before Daniel Cardoso scored the winning penalty for Chiefs.

“The manner in which you lose is important. I said to the players at halftime, I said when you’re a soldier and sign up to serve you go to war, and they find that you’re dead in the jungle, they do a post mortem. If they find that the bullet was shot at your back because you were running away, they call you a coward.

“So there’s a certain way that Orlando Pirates must lose football matches. But not allowing the opponents to bully them and all of that.

“There’s a certain way we have to respond to the game and there’s a certain way we’ve got to play. And when we lose, we lose to a better opponent.

“Like I said, Kaizer Chiefs are good enough to beat us on tactics. This is a strong Kaizer Chiefs team. They made rotations of eight players against Chippa (United) and they beat Chippa (2-0 on Wednesday).

“But we don’t accept (being) bullied and I’ve got to say kudos to the players for their never-say-die attitude. I’m very proud of the Orlando Pirates players,” he said.