Christopher Nyambose, the coach of Tigers Football Club, has expressed his frustration with the poor officiation during their recent 2023 Tnm Super League game against Karonga United.
The match took place at the Karonga stadium and witnessed a fierce battle between the two teams, with the first half ending in a goalless draw, setting the stage for an intense second half.
In the 58th minute, Trouble Kajani of Tigers managed to find the back of the net, giving his team the lead. However, Karonga United was not to be outdone as they equalized in the 87th minute through a Tobias Davie penalty. Despite the final scoreline of 1-1, Nyambose believed that his team had the upper hand throughout the game.
“I am not happy with today’s officiation at the end. This type of officiation is killing football in the country. The team should win according to their performance of the day. We were a better side than Karonga today. The referees should not favor them just because they are at home ground because they are killing the boys. The results do not reflect the game. We were supposed to win this game,” said Nyambose.
Nyambose attributed the Tigers’ success in the second half to a tactical substitution he made. According to him, this change in strategy proved vital to Trouble Kajani’s goal.
“Second half I made a substitution, and the second touch of Kajani converted the goal. It was a tactical change to find the goal,” he said.
His counterpart, Kondwani Ikwanga, the coach of Karonga United, acknowledged the pressure his team faced while playing at home. Ikwanga highlighted that it was the first time Karonga United had experienced such circumstances, contributing to the added tension.
The coach expressed his disappointment, mentioning that the team had missed several opportunities to secure victory.
The coach speculated that the pressure from supporters, who always expect their team to win, might have affected the players’ performance.
“It is very sad we gave ourselves unnecessary pressure, we were not supposed to have that pressure since we were laying at home. It is my first time to see the boys playing in that way. We were supposed to collect maximum points. This is what the game of football is all about. Maybe they were under pressure from the supporters. We lost the game last week,” said Ikwanga.
He credited the Tigers for putting up a strong fight, emphasizing the competitiveness of the game.
“I would not say these never wanted to win, they wanted to win. Tigers came equally to win, but we gave them the game as we were supposed to have done something,” added Ikwanga.
Karonga United currently is in the 7th position with 11 points from 9 games, while Mighty Tigers is positioned 11th with 9 points from the same number of games played.
Meanwhile, Karonga United’s captain, Erick Atsigah, took to his Facebook timeline to apologize to the supporters for the team’s recent poor run.
Atsigah assumed responsibility for the lackluster display and assured the fans that the players had given their best effort to achieve the desired result, unfortunately, luck was not on their side during the match.
“As captain, I would like to apologize for the poor performance we have shown today in a 1-all draw against Mighty Tigers FC which has come days after a 1-2 loss to Mighty Mukuru Wanderers FC at home.
“It wasn’t our wish, we tried our level best to give you the desired result but luck wasn’t on our side,” wrote Atsigah.
Looking ahead, Atsigah pledged that he and his teammates would continue working closely with the technical panel to improve their performance.
Despite the heartbreak of recent results, Atsigah appealed to the fans to stand by the team during this challenging period. He assured them that things would soon take a turn for the better.
