Ethiopia coach slams ref

ETHIOPIA coach Sewnet Bishaw

Ethiopia coach Bishaw Sewnet  has blamed bad refereeing for Sunday’s defeat by Nigeria that virtually extinguished the Walya Antelopes’  hopes of a first World Cup appearance, AFP reports.

Hoping to become the first nation from the east of the continent to compete at the global football showcase, the Walya  Antelopes  lost 2-1 at home to the Super Eagles.

The first-leg play-off result leaves Ethiopia needing to score at least twice in the November 16 return match to reach the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Sewnet blamed  for the Addis Ababa loss with the Cameroonian referee.

“We lost the game because the referee was poor,” he told reporters after the Antelopes suffered a first home defeat in five qualifying games.

“We scored a goal that he cancelled and the referee also did other things that were questionable.”

Salahdin Ahmed believed his close-range poke crossed the goal-line midway through the opening half before Godfrey Oboabona cleared the ball.

The referee waved play on before a capacity 35,000 crowd and television replays of the incident were inconclusive.

Sewnet, a  61-year-old former biology teacher who has coached only the national team, also admitted Ethiopian shortcomings.

“After taking the lead we thought it would be easy, but we could not match the pace of the Nigerians after they equalised,” he said.

The coach conceded that the introduction of Omod Okwury and Addis Hintsa during the second half did not have the desired effect.