‘BIRDS’ U-20 STAR RED CARD REVERSED

MBABANE – In a rare case locally, the PLS has reversed Mbabane Swallows’ Under-20 star Richard Macreesh’s red card.

The player, who last week was joint leading top goal scorer with Manzini Wanderers’ Lungelo Mawelela on seven goals, got sent off last Friday evening when they played and lost to Malanti Chiefs 1-0 at the country’s soccer mecca, Somhlolo National Stadium.

It appeared he was sent off after a second bookable offence as it was not a straight red. However, after considering the Match Commissioner Dumisani Hadebe’s report on the game, the PLS Development Office reversed the suspension.

“Macreesh is eligible to play for his team in the next game as his red card was wrongfully given to him and the match official’s reports state it clearly,” PLS Development Officer Banele Masondo explained.

The report, in this newspaper’s possession, states that ‘Mbabane Swallows’ Richard Macreesh was wrongly red carded. He deserves to be allowed to play in the next game’.

Masondo, as per the report explains, said that the referee on the day Manqoba Sihlongonyane had thought he had booked him before yet it was his first booking. The report states that the player who the referee had cautioned was Malanti’s Moses Dlamini for a reckless tackle.

The lifting of the one match suspension will allow the talented midfielder, who some have said is a better version of senior team midfielder Felix Badenhorst, to face Green Mamba and probably Young Buffaloes in their last two games.

However, the reversal is a known practice in football especially at the highest professional level in some tournaments ahead of finals.

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