Poor officiating mars Dolphins-3SC cracker    Posted on Sunday, Dec.14th 2008

Dolphins maintained their leadership position in Group B after pipping Shooting Stars 1-0 in Port Harcourt last Sunday. But their victory was smeared with very questionable officiating as centre referee Sunday Nwangbo disallowed two goals scored by 3SC.

Obinna Amakor struck after only two minutes to put Dolphins in front. The striker hit target when he capitalized on a defensive blunder to put the ball behind goalkeeper Segun Oluwaniyi, but it was Shooting Stars who dominated for longer spells, stretching the log leaders to the limits. 

The visitors scored in each half of the keenly-contested encounter and should have earned at least a point, but centre referee Sunday Nwangbo stunned the fairly large crowd by disallowing both goals.

Dolapo Omotayo grabbed what should have been 3SC’s equalizing goal on 54 minutes but referee ruled it offside, and also canceled substitute striker Ibrahim Yusuf’s beauty of a goal in the dying minutes of the game.

The Week 12 National First Division encounter lived up to pre-match billing, with everyone agreeing that Shooting Stars deserved at least a draw in the top-of-the-table clash.

“It was unbelievable but the ref killed the game by disallowing the two goals we scored,” 3SC Media Officer Jubril Arowolo said.

“Even the Rivers State Commissioner of Sports walked out in utter disbelief after the ref disallowed our second effort, calling the act a shame on Nigerian football,” he further disclosed.

Dolphins Chief Coach Stanley Eguma also admitted that 3SC were robbed, particularly the second goal which he described as “beautiful.”

“The match was obviously bigger than the referee, and it wasn’t surprising that he lost grip of proceedings,” Eguma added. “

3SC Chief Coach Franklin Howard called the referee’s act “daylight robbery” as he walked out of the Stadium in despair.

“This is very unfortunate for Nigerian football. The win-at-all-cost-syndrome is really killing us and unless we do something fast, the situation will only get worse,” Howard noted.

Shooting Stars General Manager Mutiu Adepoju frowned at the poor officiating too, calling it “a bad story for Nigerian football.”

“There’s no doubt that the centre ref spoilt the fun for everyone here. Surely this is a bad story for our football,” said the Nigeria ex-international.

By Mark Ogagan