Otieno bemoans “poor officiating” as Blad’s poor run rolls on

Blak Blad head coach Michael ‘Tank’ Otieno has bemoaned the level of officiating in their weekend Kenya Cup match against Top Fry Nakuru saying it contributed to their defeat.

Blad fell 42-22 to the hosts and an infuriated Otieno has taken issue with one of the match situations when his player was allegedly strangled but no caution was given by the referee.

“It was unfortunate that the referee managed the game badly because one of my best players was strangled on the pitch and then the referee did nothing; not even giving a card or anything,” he lamented.

“So for me it’s very unfortunate; fine we lost the game but the officiating was a bit wanting,” he added.

At the same time the former Shujaa tactician is hopeful that the injured Archedis Kwesah will recover before their next outing.

Otieno who won three Kenya Cup trophies with KCB in 2005, 2006 and 2007, also believes their game against Nakuru was competitive.

“The match was competitive in the first half but we lost our discipline around the breakdowns which made us give away a lot of penalties.

“We made couple of errors like the breakdowns; the ball going forward and the line out ball that we won and then Nakuru got it to score a try because we didn’t have a cover at the back.”

‘Tank’ noted that with the season being so competitive they have to win three upcoming matches to jump out of the relegation zone.

“This season the competition is very tight so we can’t afford to give away points, the idea is just to get out of the relegation zone  but that means you have to win three matches and then see if you can make it to the play offs.

The Blads play host to fellow university side Strathmore Leos this weekend in their fifth match of the campaign; with ‘Tanji’ confident his charges will become victorious.

“Well, that’s a home match for us and if it’s a home game it’s a must win situation.”

Blad sit ninth on the log with six points while winless Strathmore Leos are at the bottom with two points without a win yet.