Mara Sugar coach rues big officiating blunders in narrow defeat to AFC Leopards

Mara Sugar head coach Francis Xavier has blamed poor officiating for his team’s 2-1 loss to AFC Leopards.

The two teams met in a FKF Premier League match played on Saturday 9 May at the Nyayo National Stadium, with Leopards netting the winner in the second half.

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Goals from Hassan Beja and Victor Omune reduced Drona Openda's strike to a mere consolation.

However, the match’s biggest talking point remains Omune’s goal that TV replays indicate that he was offside before scoring

“I am a victim of poor officiating and I do not like some of the refereeing decisions. If it is, then it is so bad. We need to raise officiating standards because we cannot be working hard and losing matches at the mercy of referees,” said Xavier.

Not even Mara Sugar players’ protests and fury at first assistant referee Adan Tadicha, following the goal, could help their course as whistler, Badir Yasin awarded the goal.

Xavier also took issues with some of the calls made by Yassin in the Saturday afternoon encounter.

“Somebody steps on your player and walks scot free. It is so demeaning and irritating. You cannot just accept that because people are investing so much resources in these teams and so officiating must just step up,” added Xavier.

With continued scrutiny on match officials, the match is likely to hand Yasin, Tadicha and second assistant Gladys Kamuren a date with the referee's oversight body.

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Apart from officiating, Xavier also highlighted two mistakes that cost his side three points in the match.

“It is so disappointing that we lost chances that could have at least given us a point but again, I thank the boys for showing the willingness to fight.

We started the game slowly and conceded a goal in the early minutes due to loss in concentration which we must work on in our next matches," he added.