Former FIFA referee and now authoritative expert Myroslav Stupar commented on the officiating of yesterday's match of the 25th round of the Ukrainian championship between Donetsk’s “Shakhtar” and Kovalivka’s “Kolos” (2:4), which after the game was criticized by the head coach of “the miners” Marino Pushich.
Myroslav Stupar“The mentor of “the miners,” Marino Pushich, is once again justifying the uninspired performance of his charges with refereeing errors, in his opinion. Although, in my view, the referee did not make mistakes that would affect the outcome of the match. That is why the head coach of the champions should primarily seek the reasons for the failure in the weak defense of “Shakhtar,” which managed to concede as many as four goals from “Kolos” with its far from exemplary attack, and also inquire with his forwards about the reasons for their profligacy.
I believe that Novokhatny did well in carrying out his duties, particularly in the episode when he disallowed a goal by “Kolos” due to offside. Where Pushich is right is that it is outrageous to review the video of the episode for more than ten minutes. Although it cannot be ruled out that there was some technical failure. Here, the rhythm was indeed killed, not to mention the psychological blow. After all, “the miners” were confident that the score would become a draw, but it turned out that they had to chase again. And for “Kolos,” on the contrary, this cancellation only added confidence and inspiration.
According to the letter of the law, the referee acted when he awarded a penalty against “Kolos” during the stoppage time, which the nominal hosts converted, reducing their deficit to a minimum. There was still time for a saving assault for “the miners,” but another failure in defense led to the fourth conceded goal. Are the referees to blame here as well?” — said Stupar.
