NAIROBI, March 19, Gor-Mahia have blamed poor officiating for the chaos that ensued during their KPL derby against fierce rivals AFC Leopards at the Nyayo National Stadium on Sunday.
Gor Secretary General George Bwana told Capital Sports,”The centre referee completely ignored the hard tackles meted on our players.
“I cannot say the red card was not deserving but the rules must be applied across the board. We had bad tackles from AFC players and he did not issue warning of a yellow card but the moment our player Victor Ali tackled in the middle of the pitch, he was sent off.”
While criticising the manner in which the Gor fans reacted to the second half sending off of Victor Ali, Bwana remained adamant that the match official refused to show consistency throughout the encounter.
“Even before the red card we were practically having a weak squad on the pitch after Kevin Kimani received a serious knock from a hard tackle and even had a free kick denied for dangerous tackle from behind near the Leopards box.”
Bwana blamed the Kenyan Premier League (KPL) for failing to notifying teams of the officials expected to be on duty during league matches early in advance.
“Davies Omweno has a past record of calling off matches after protests from fans due to his skewed way of officiating and is not fit to be in charge of high profile matches like this derby.”
Bwana also downplayed the alleged pulling out of Leopards from their Top 8 tie slated for April due to the incidents at the derby.
“AFC are sensing defeat in the knockout tournament after we held them to a barren draw despite playing with 10 men”, a confident Bwana added.
He however stressed the need for fans to restrain themselves and commended the players for managing to calm the situation and resume play in the face of been one man down.
Football Kenya Federation’s decision to have the two teams play their Top 8 fixture at Mombasa’s Mbaraki Stadium does not worry the Gor management who boast of a huge fan base in all major urban towns.
“Even if AFC rescind their decision and we meet in Mombasa, we have committed travelling fans that will go and offer moral support to our lads and register victory against our rivals,” the secretary expressed.
Bwana believes that the poor run of the team since the start of the season is now behind them and will be the team to watch in the upcoming league fixtures.
Gor will host Rangers on Wednesday in a mid week fixture at the Nyayo.
