After the defeat (1-3) of Maniema Union once morest FC Lupopo this Thursday, March 21, Papy Kimoto in anguish presented himself at a press conference with in his mind the two No. 1 responsible for this bad day: his players and refereeing.

Maniema Union coach Papy Kimoto noted a mismatch between the planned style of play and his team’s performance. For him, the lack of realism was the cardinal sin of his soldiers. “We only have ourselves to blame. We might play differently even while being outnumbered. We have to accept responsibility, we lost. We missed a lot of opportunities that might have allowed us to get back into the match. A glaring lack of realism from my players.”

On the other hand, the locker room boss of the Kindu club points to refereeing as a second key element behind the defeat of Maniema Union. He indicates that he was the victim of blatant injustice on the part of the refereeing body which allegedly made harsh and unjustified decisions with regard to the regulations. “A few refereeing decisions marred the start of the match. The action on the second goal is on the line. On the action of Simete’s red card, there was telescoping. At the end of the first half we should have had a penalty but he refused to whistle, which is why everyone was angry. We had a feeling of injustice, it’s difficult to control someone who feels disadvantaged by refereeing.”

However, Papy Kimoto remains optimistic by foreseeing an urgent recovery in order to continue dreaming of a possible exploit during this play-off. “(…) Never mind, it’s a championship. The race is deep, there are still many matches to play. We must quickly get up, raise our heads, re-mobilize ourselves to move forward. The next matches will still be difficult to negotiate, we know that. The upcoming opponent is called AS VClub.”

After a failed outing once morest one of the play-off favorites, FC Saint-Eloi Lupopo, Maniema Union will have to ensure its survival on Sunday March 31 once morest AS V.Club de Kinshasa. The club will necessarily need a victory to get back into the competition.

Gael Hombo