If Kosta Papic felt he owed struggling Premier Soccer League giants Orlando Pirates a debt after coaching the club through a two-year title drought, he surely paid out in full on Sunday while at the helm of Maritzburg United in a 4-2 defeat against the Buccaneers during the opening round of the Telkom Knockout at Chatsworth Stadium.
Serbian-born Papic fielded a goalkeeper from his homeland in hapless Dejan Bugonovic, who handed Pirates two vital goals on a plate and generally performed like a novice.
Bugonovic palmed Fikru Tefera’s header into his own net for the game’s opening goal in the 12th minute. Then, with Pirates leading 3-2 in the 78th minute and the hectic, vacillating game still in the balance, the Maritzburg goalkeeper allowed a gentle shot from substitute Haytham Tambal to roll through his legs and into the net.
Bungling Bugonovic’s presence on the pitch was made all the more inexplicable, with Maritzburg boasting competent goalkeepers of the calibre of Aime Kitenge on their books.
The virulent generosity bug was also caught by Maritzburg defender Michael Mogaledi in the 63rd minute when he guided a cross from substitute Jabu Mahlangu into his own net at a stage when the teams were level at 2-2.
And the calamitous mistakes in defence were cruel reward for the gallant Maritzburg players generally, who recovered from the early-goal deficit with a degree of aplomb and gained a 2-1 lead by half-time through goals of the highest quality from Sandile Ndlovu and Linch Pule.
Pirates had their backs to the wall and the spectre of losing for the second time this season against Maritzburg was looming large when Zambian international midfielder Isaac Chansa produced his team’s one truly pedigreed goal in the 57th minute and opened the floodgates for a Buccaneers revival.
If United’s fielding of Bugonovic was an unsolved mystery worthy of testing the ingenuity of a Sherlock Holmes, almost as mystifying was the presence for totally different reasons of on-loan Mamelodi Sundowns striker Sandile Ndlovu.
Ndlovu was his team’s best player and his lobbed goal was majestic. But Premier Soccer League champions Sundowns have chosen to loan him out while they search far and wide for strikers and have bought, in the process, players who are infinitely less talented than Ndlovu.
But when you have the kind of money that Sundowns have to spend, it is not unusual to develop flaws in one’s reasoning — or is it simply a degree of brazen soccer ignorance? — Sapa