PREMIERSHIP coaches Joey Antipas and Gishon Ntini have taken aim at the poor officiating that proved costly to their respective sides when Motor Action and Triangle drew 2-2 in a Castle Lager Premier Soccer match played at Gibbo Stadium on Wednesday.
REPORT BY KENNETH NYANGANI
The referee, Makonese Masakadza and his first assistant Bernard Matenga, all from Masvingo, were at the centre of controversy after allowing Limited Chikafa’s second half equaliser.
Chikafa did well to beat a cluster of the Mighty Bulls defenders before letting go a shot that settled into the net via the side netting.
The pair of match officials did not see anything wrong with that, but that caused a 13-minute stoppage. Motor Action coaches and players mobbed both the referee and his assistant. Masakadza refused to take questions from this reporter, but, however, directed all the issues to the match commissioner John Madziva who was nowhere to be seen after the match.
Yves Ebabali was first on the scoresheet for Motor Action in the sixth minute before Misheck Mburayi added the second in the 24th minute. Courage Denias reduced the arreas for the hosts just before half time, before Chikafa’s controversial goal just seven minutes after the breather. With the match reaching the final stages, Tawanda Muyendi scored what seemed like a genuine goal after heading home a Brian Juwayeyi corner kick to beat Motor Action goalminder Itayi Chiwara, but the goal was disallowed.
“I think you saw that the ball sailed into the goal through the side net. One of the officials even tied the nets,” Antipas said.
Ntini said: “l don’t know what we have done; we have been scoring goals and they are being disallowed and today it was the same. I am not happy with decision made by the referee, it was a clear goal after all.”
