Both coaches in the Adamawa United versus Katsina United Match Day 23 fixture on Wednesday in the 2020/2021 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) were dissatisfied with the game’s officiating.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that both Azeez Mohammed of Katsina United and Festus Alewe, the Assistant Coach at Adamawa United, expressed their dissatisfaction during post-match interviews.
Adamawa United won 1-0 in the game played at the Pantami Stadium in Gombe.
Mohammed, who is the Technical Adviser of Katsina United, decried the decision of the centre referee to deny his team a penalty kick against Adamawa United FC.
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“But for the decision of the referee, the match could have ended in a 1-1 draw. The officiating was not fair from the second half of the game,” he said.
Mohammed blamed this on the intimidation of the officiating referee by fans of the host team.
“He (referee) denied us a clear penalty kick. The referee was threatened and it was clear. But where were the security personnel?
“The fair result would have been a 1-1 draw or we should have been given our chance for the penalty kick and if we lost it, we would not have minded.”
Mohammed advised that fans should be patient and not always threaten officials, because “anybody in his (referee’s) shoes would actually not have given the penalty kick. This is not good for football.”
He however added that his boys played well even though rain slowed things down during the match.
On his part, Alewe of Adamawa United side accused the centre referee of taking sides with the visiting team.
”In all fairness, the referee took sides and this is what we have been suffering from here (Gombe).”
He however said his team had been playing well but have not been winning games.
“Today we gave it all it takes because without a win, mathematically it would have been off for us.”
Alewe stated that with the win, his team still had a chance in the league “considering the number of matches and points to be taken.
“Teams are still losing and drawing at home, so there is every possibility for us to survive,” he said.
On their next match against Nasarawa United, the coach said: “we will put up a good fight because we are not afraid of the big teams.”
NAN reports that the goal which gave Adamawa United the win was an own goal scored by Katsina United’s defender Sanusi Abdulmutalib in the 57th minute of the game.(NAN)
