Crown/Lobi fallout: Referee Udoh is a killjoy-Ibadan fans

THE majority of fans who watched the Nigeria Premier League Week 21 game between Crown FC and Lobi Stars on Wednesday left the Lekan Salami Stadium, Ibadan disappointed.
Reason: the 0-1 defeat suffered by the home team, Crown was believed to be a product of bias officiating of referee, Ferdinand Udoh.
Right from the blast of the whistle, the FIFA-badged referee from Akwa Ibom State. established firm control of the match but he however, on a number of occasions took decisions that were roundly condemned
from the terrace.
One of such occasions was when a player of Lobi Stars wrestled his opponent down, but Udoh instead warned the former to the chagrin of the spectators who followed the scene, as he also failed to award an infringement in favour of the homers as well.
The 52nd minute penalty kick he awarded to Lobi Stars which was converted by Moses Bunde, was equally believed to be an error of judgment, as the foul which resulted in the penalty appeal was committed on the edge of the box.
The match had to be temporarily suspended by Udoh as fans resorted to show displeasure with his officiating while the play resumed after after about six minutes of stoppage as the host FA quickly restored sanity.
After the final whistle, it took Udoh and his assistants time before they could leave the playing arena, as fans continued to pour vitriols on them for the woes that have befallen the home team.
"It's like this referee came here with a script which he played out to the letter. I mean, how can you be hostile to your host in the first instance? Right from the first half, he has expressed bias for the away team to win and this is not good for our football," lamented one of the fans.
Another soccer fan said: "My advice is that the Nigeria Referees Association should watch the match clip to know the extent of damage this referee has done to Nigerian football. He was far from the ball if not, the penalty kick he awarded was committed outside the box, they should go and watch the clip again".
Some of the fans who also spoke fumed that Nigerian football needs to be sanitised in terms of officiating.
"That is why our clubs don't always go far in the continental championships. The only way to grow our football is to encourage productivity by ensuring that every team wins on absolute merit. It is not also good for the image of Nigerian referees and that is why they don't assign them to handle international matches despite Nigeria's pedigree in international football," said a football analyst.
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Caption: Referee Udoh.