Middendorp disagrees with Sundowns' penalty

Cape Town Spurs head coach Ernst Middendorp felt Mamelodi Sundowns should not have been awarded a penalty on Tuesday night.

Sundowns walked away with maximum points thanks to a penalty scored by Lucas Ribeiro Costa just before the interval.

Middendorp says the penalty incident, where Peter Shalulile was fouled by Asenele Velebayi happened outside the box.

"Ja I'm quite sure the foul was outside (the box), I don't think you have to give a penalty but I have to watch it again. I just don't want to waste my energy anymore, they made the decision at half-time, let's just leave it, we have no influence," Middendorp said on SuperSport TV.

"Before the game, our experience in the last two matches… We had the possibility to score. In the first-half I think Ashley (Cupido) had a good possibility, in the second-half he had an opportunity, crossbar.

"I think over 90 minutes implementing a new setup, totally new. We've trained it for only two days, different. We've played three defence line before, very narrow, they had the understanding, I think it worked out very well, despite of course a certain dominance in the first-half," he said.

"You can't deny, it's normal you're playing Sundowns, you have to give them these moments but I think good reaction during the second-half. Ja, good, it's definitely something where we can move on.

"A game like this today is not about to reduce the distance to position 15, not a game against Sundowns, we have to be focused, concentrated, put a shift, leave out individual mistakes. I think everybody knows, before the penalty, it could have been done differently, of course we'll have a look at it and let's see. I think seven matches to go, of course five points to the position we're targeting but