It will not happen again – Referee Kofi Owusu apologizes for mistake in Hearts, Sharks game

Maxwell Kofi Owusu, the referee who handled a Ghana Premier League match between Accra Hearts of Oak and Elmina Sharks has admitted to making errors in the game.

A comedy of errors saw the referee award a penalty to Hearts of Oak despite the ball coming off the shoulder of an Elmina Sharks players. In saving the penalty, the Elmina Sharks goalie was more than one-metre off his line which per the new International Football Association Board’s law constitutes an infringement and should result in a retake of the penalty.

But referee Owusu did not order a retake and allowed the game to continue despite his assistant referee raising his flag to signal an infraction.

In a Facebook post on Monday, May 17, 2021, the embattled referee stated that with the benefit of hindsight, he has realized that he erred in awarding the penalty.

He assured that he has learnt from the game and will work hard to avoid a repetition of same in subsequent matches.

“This was absolutely not a good decision. I’m not proud of it. A lot of people have been hurt and I’m hurt too. Lessons learnt in the hardest possible way. As genuinely as this mistake might (be), steps must taken to avoid this in the future. This should never happen again. Never again should this happen.”

Despite the missed penalty, Hearts of Oak managed to secure the three maximum points with goals from Isaac Mensah and Benjamin Afutu.

The Phobians have now move two points behind league leaders and sworn-rivals Kumasi Asante Kotoko.

For the Hearts of Oak coach, Samuel Boadu, his team will continue to keep up the chase in the hope of a first major title after more than a decade.

“With this win I can say we are not going to enjoy it too much because we have more matches ahead of us. We are planning towards it and I believe that if we focus on the matches ahead of us and win most of the matches, I believe that it will help us.” Samuel Boadu said.

“I can say we are still on course because we want to achieve something big for the club. We need them [the fans] to support the club because it is not an easy match. We know that we are going to play against Medeama, Olympics, Chelsea and they are not easy matches.

“But we believe in ourselves and I believe in my boys that they will deploy the tactics I will put in place and win all the matches at home,” Samuel Boadu added.