After Wednesday 1:1 draw away to Vardar in the first leg of the Macedonian Cup quarter-final match, Shkendija released a statement adding a video of referee decisions that they think were in favor of Vardar and prevented them to celebrate a road win.
photo by KF Shkendija: Kristijan Toshevski makes a sliding tackle on Besart ibraimi
This is part of their statement:
“We can not accept an international referee like Dimitar Mechkarovski to do his jab in our expense and directly influencing the final outcome. We present you some of the disputed moments supported by a video material:
- Our defender Mevlan Adili (no. 33) after just 7 minutes is being booked for his first foul;
- home player, Darko Glishikj (no. 32) in the 33rd minute makes a foul from behind using both legs on Egzon Bejtulai, but the referee doesn’t stop the game because a foul would mean a second yellow card for that player;
- In the 43rd minute our player Ennur Totre (no. 8) is being fouled inside the box by two home players (no. 16 Nikola Gligorov and no. 2 Kristijan Toshevski) but the referee ignores the situation;
- In the 78th minute the referee blows for a non-existing foul giving Vardar the free kick from which they equalized. In this situation, like shown in the video, our player Armend Alimi (no. 5) gets first to the ball and gives it to Ardian Cuculi, while home player Tigran Barseghyan (no. 11) simulates a foul. How can the referee award them a free kick when is standing just 6-7 meters away?
- The most tragic moment happened in the 89th minute when home player Nikola Gligorov (no. 16) played with hand in from of the home goal and despite changing the trajectory of the ball none of the referees thought that it is enough for a penalty.”
Video of these situations:
Is Shkendija right about these decisions? It is clear that referees make mistakes, but this seems a bit exaggerated. Our opinion is that they are right about the missing yellow card for Glishikj, but the hand-ball penalty is a right decision by the refereeing team since Gligorov’s hand was in natural position (he was running), he obviously had no intention to hit it plus the ball was heading away from the goal. A whistle here would have awarded Shkendija a “Juventus penalty”.