Captain of Heartland, Chinedu Efugh, has blamed the referee who officiated their game for their 1-0 loss to El Kanemi Warriors, saying his team deserved at least one point from the match.
Ibrahim Mustapha scored the only goal of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) Match Day 35 clash at the Maiduguri Township Stadium.
Efugh admitted that the defeat was a setback in their fight to avoid relegation.
“The referee in today’s (Saturday) NPFL matchday 35 tie at El Kanemi Warriors is the worst I have ever seen in the whole world,” he told SuperSport.
“El Kanemi Warriors’ goal is incontestable, very good goal, but the clean penalty we got could only be denied in the entire world by the referee that officiated today’s game.
“We abandoned the match but were persuaded by the coach and other team officials to continue with the match.
“I tell you nobody would have questioned the penalty if it was given by the referee but he decided and deliberately too, to kill our joy.
“Of course we out-played the hosts, El Kanemi Warriors, to ably deserve a point in the encounter.
“The loss has turned out to be a bad result in our fight to avoid relegation in the ongoing top-flight.
“However, we are refusing to be discouraged by the referee-assisted defeat at El Kanemi Warriors but to push harder till the end of the season.
“There is still hope for us to survival the drop with three remaining matches on the season’s calendar.”
Heartland now occupy 18th place with 37 points.
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