Victory’s Coach has blamed the referee for their 3-1 loss in the first match of Ooredoo Dhivehi Premier (formally Dhivehi League) against New Radiant.
During the news conference held after the match, Coach Nashid (Naadhu) said this regarding the referee’s decision to give Shifan Abduh Raheem a penalty near the end of the match. The referee made this decision because he believed that the ball touched the Victory Captain Ismail Shafeeu’s hand.
“The Victory players fought hard in this match. In a match like this, it’s not wise to give a penalty to the team that’s on top during a time like that.” said Naadhu. Unlike New Radiant, Victory had not placed their best players for the match.
The first goal was made by New’s William during the 18th minute of the first half. Victory’s Goalkeeper Tholal Hassan had made exceptional saves, and the match was tied during the 75th minute during a free-kick by Ahmed Ziyan.
New’s second goal was scored by Ibrahim Fazeel (Oppo) in the 90th minute during the penalty given by the referee, and Ali Fasir (Sentey) expanded the lead later during extra-time. Near the end of the match, the referee had given New Player Rilwan Waheed (Riley) a red card claiming that he had purposely attacked a Victory player without a ball.
But, after the match, New’s Manager Ahmed Zareer said that he didn’t believe that Rilwan would purposely attack another player.
“I saw a player on the floor and the referee showing the red card. I didn’t see much of what happened, so I can’t say anything with confidence. But we believe that Rilwan wouldn’t attack another player on purpose.” said Zareer.
He said that even though they hadn’t played their best, they were happy that they won.