Liepāja head coach Vladimir Vassiljev criticised referee Aleksejs Griščenko after Liepāja finished with nine men in a 2-0 Virsliga defeat to RFS, in a tightly contested match where the opening goal was scored only on the 80th minute.
The Estonian coach said the contest felt unbalanced from the outset, suggesting the officiating had tilted the match. “From the first minutes we were one player down on the pitch,” Vassiljev said. “This is not a story about two red cards. From the very beginning we had minus one player, because someone else had plus one player.”
Vassiljev added that it was the poorest refereeing he had experienced in his career. “This is my subjective opinion, but in my coaching career, whether it is the top division or the second division, I have not seen such amateur refereeing,” he said. “I can’t explain to myself and my team how it’s possible at this level. The referee can’t control the match and make decisions.”
Liepāja had much of the ball in the first half but could not make their control count. The turning point came eight minutes after the interval when Bart Straalman was sent off for a challenge on Diomande near his own penalty area.
In the 70th minute, Iļja Korotkovs received a second yellow card for a foul of last hope, leaving Liepāja with nine. RFS finally broke through 10 minutes later with Lipušček powering through a volley, before doubling their lead in the 90th minute from the penalty spot, after Ķigurs was wrestled down following a scuffle with two defenders.
Vassiljev said he had raised similar concerns previously, pointing to another match officiated by Griščenko against Super Nova. “It’s not only about this game,” he said. “Against Super Nova it was the same referee and the same refereeing. We won, but I had a lot of questions.”
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Source: https://sportacentrs.com/futbols/virsliga/26062026-liepajas_treneris_pec_diviem_noraidijumie
