Sunshine Stars of Akure Director of Technical Matters, Mike Idoko, has rubbished the claims of his counterpart in Warri Wolves, Paul Aigbogun, that match officials caused his team’s loss in Akure.
Mike Idoko
According to Idoko, rather than blame the officials, Aigbogun should accept defeat in good faith.
Sunshine Stars won the match 3-2 in Akure last Sunday.
“I learnt that he (Aigbogun) accused the referees of biased officiating. That is not fair. The better side won the match and he should accept defeat in good faith,” said Idoko.
Aigbogun had advised the League Management Company (LMC) to pay more attention to officiating if they want football to grow in the country.
“The LMC said we should not condemn the league, but with this type of officiating, one will be forced to speak out because Nigerian football will be worse for it,” he said
He made reference to the red card given to Michael Egbeta for time-wasting.
“He was only carrying out an instruction from the centre referee to wait for a change to be made before taking a corner kick.
“Apart from that, the first assistant referee ignored the rules and was basically the 12th player, aiding and did everything possible to help the Akure outfit.
“Those who know me can attest to it that I don’t complain when my team loses, but it has got to that stage when we need to cry out.
“If LMC says we should not talk, then they have to do something, because we cannot continue like this.
“How can players put in everything in a game and will have nothing to show for it. Our football will be worse for it because of what is happening at match venues.
“This is pure rubbish, and the Akure team knows that the referee assisted them to win. We played better, scored first and they equalised, scored the second goal and another which hit the inside net was ignored before he allowed two offside goals,” he complained.
