Bendel Insurance coach, Monday Odigie, has attributed his team’s 1-0 loss against Sporting Lagos on match-day 20 of the Nigeria Premier Football League at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Onikan, Lagos on Sunday to poor officiating, The PUNCH reports.
The Benin Arsenal were in search of their first away win of the season but were kept on back foot for most part of the game before conceding the only goal of the game in the 56th minute.
Mid-season signing, Tochukwu Michael, however broke the dock for Sporting Lagos from a freekick and condemned Odigie’s side to their sixth defeat of the season.
While the coach was critical of his team’s performance after the game, he also heaped the blame for the defeat on the officials.
“When you have the ball, you try to be offensive but when you don’t, you close up the marks and try to be defensive. That’s football.
“What I saw here is not encouraging because we all saw the game. You know what I’m talking about,” Odigie told journalists in Lagos.
“Go and playback the goal, that’s where we lost this match. In Lagos, this is happening and nobody is talking. AFCON, where were Nigerian referees? I rest my case,” Odigie lamented.
Odigie led the team to a 21-game unbeaten run in the league last season but their performance this term has been shy of that benchmark. They are currently eighth in the table with 30 points from 20 games, but just six points behind leaders Remo Stars.
Insurance are back home on Saturday as they welcome champions Enyimba at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin.
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