Mururi takes aim at officiating standard in Vihiga's away win over Nzoia

It is very uncharacteristic for the coach on the winning side to complain of poor officiating, but it is not the case with Vihiga United coach Mike Mururi. In most cases, it is always the coach who has dropped points that complains of bad refereeing, most often used as a scapegoat for the bad results.

Recently, complaints of poor officiating have become rampant in the top-tier league with similar issues being raised by the likes Tusker's Robert Matano, AFC Leopard's Patrick Aussems, Western Stima's Abdallah Juma among others in the current campaign.

Despite winning 2-1 against Nzoia Sugar, Mururi has hit out at the poor officiating displayed at Sudi Stadium, saying that Nzoia Sugar were awarded a very easy penalty deep into stoppage time that was not warranted.

Trailing 2-1, Nzoia were awarded a penalty that Gabriel Wandera took first but Mustapha Oduor saved. The referee ordered a repeat and the resultant kick by Masha Gaetan hit the woodwork.

"I'm not happy with the officiating. It has been very poor. Though we have won, the officiating was very bad, this win has been given to us by God. I have not seen any game of football where 15 minutes are added yet there weren't any major happenings that warranted so much stoppage time. They were awarded an easy penalty that to me was not a penalty, they played kick and my goalkeeper saved it but he was ruled to have been off his line and they had to repeat, and they hit the post with the second kick. God has been with us in this game but the officiating was very poor," Mururi said.

This was Mururi's first win with the team since rejoining in May and it was the team's third win of the season, with the other two coming against Gor Mahia and Nzoia in the first leg.

The former Sofapaka assistant coach is adamant that Vihiga can turn their poor season around after recording his first win for the club.

"I expect more from this team. We will get out of the zone we are in. Despite all the issues surrounding the team currently, the attitude and character with the players is top-notch," the former Kenyan international said.

The win saw Vihiga United climb out of the relegation zone past Western Stima who lost with a similar scoreline at Ruaraka Grounds.