‘Referee helped Wazito FC to get point against Kakamega Homeboyz' – Shitiabayi

Kakamega Homeboyz have blamed the dropped points in a Kenyan Premier League (KPL) match against Wazito FC on poor officiating.

The Kakamega-based side took a deserved lead in the second half courtesy of Christopher Masinza and with the match heading to the final whistle, Wazito were awarded a penalty which striker Derrick Otanga converted for a 1-1 draw and the final whistle was blown.

Homeboyz CEO Bernard Shitiabayi has now blamed poor officiating for losing the two points and called on the KPL to introduce Video Assistance Referee (VAR) in the Kenyan league.

“It was not a penalty, it was very controversial, not even was it supposed to be a foul, the decision to give out the penalty and especially with seconds to the final whistle was suspect, it was very shocking and creating confusion,” Shitiabayi told Goal on Monday.

“The ball was heading outside and the referee claimed our defender hit the Wazito player with the elbow, that was not the case, the ball was heading outside and was not a dangerous move anyway and we wondered what the referee was thinking to award the penalty.

“it is worth now we appeal for [VAR] in Kenyan football now, it now going beyond what we expected and with this issue of clubs being asked to help pay the referees means it has a challenge because only strong teams will have to survive.”

Apart from the penalty incident, Shitiabayi further says officiating in the entire match was suspect as the lineswoman kept flagging down some unnecessary decisions in favour of Wazito.

“In general the entire officiating was very poor, we only survived losing the match because we knew the situation after watching the first half,” Shitiabayi continued.

“On many occasions, play was stopped in favour of Wazito and the calls were not friendly at all, we have never complained about officiating but against [Wazito] it was not the best we have seen this season.”

The draw enabled Homeboyz to keep their nine-match unbeaten run and also cement their second place in the 17-team table, where they have accumulated 40 points.