Referee Jacob Aduntera was the man in black in charge of the Asante Kotoko – Karela United Week 30 Ghana Premier League game on Wednesday as the Porcupine Warriors won 2-1 to go of the league log on 56 points after 30 games – 3 point clear of Hearts of Oak who play against Legon Cities on Thursday.
For starters. I have seen some people say referee Aduntera and his assistants performed badly in Obuasi. Well that is an understatement. They were horrible.
They were horrible in every sense of the word and it could have been sickening if they had disallowed the Karela United goal because the laws of the game meant that once the ball came off two Kotoko players before falling to Richard Berko to fire in the equalizer, there was no debate about any offside sides. It was a legitimate goal and to be honest, thumbs up to the ref for awarding it after lengthy consultations to correct the earlier decision of his first assistant Tijani Mohammed who had flagged offside to the ire of the Karela United team.
Before that Evans Adomako was at the end of a ball squared into the Karela area by Emmanuel Gyamfi to put Kotoko ahead but assistant referee one Tijani flagged offside. Replays showed that Adomako was just onside and the goal should have stood as a good one in my opinion. This is purely a subjective stance and I could be wrong if different angles could show that indeed the Kotoko attacker was offside.
Then in the 74th minute was the most controversial moment of the game where Aduntera awarded Kotoko a penalty with the game was tied at 1-1. Adomako darted into the box to pounce on a 50-50 ball against goalkeeper Richard Baidoo but the goalkeeper clearly and legally won the ball first as he came off his line to clear the danger but Aduntera – figuratively with the speed of light – pointed to the spot and Fabio Gama converted to bring the game to 2-1 in favor of the home team. My goodness. What a big farce !
How could a Ghana Premier League referee officiating such an important game at a crucial part of the season award such a pathetic penalty?
To finish this rant. I reproduce what Ashantigold coach Thomas Duah said of Jacob Aduntera after a game against Medeama in Tarkwa.
“If they had left me, what I would have said will be worse. Why should the referees destroy our work and expert theirs to go on. Everybody at the stadium knows we played well, even the Tarkwa fans were impressed and clapped for us. I still can’t fathom why the referee added 8 minutes, I was surprised and that is when he awarded that penalty against us.” Duah told Wontumi TV.
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