Heartland boss Fidelis Ilechukwu has blamed the center referee for his team‘s narrow defeat to Jigawa golden stars on Wednesday.

Heartland slumped to a 2-1 defeat against the Jigawa Golden Stars, no thanks to a 98th minutes penalty from Ali Maro Kalla who also saw his 28th minutes opener canceled out by Chidera Eze.

While speaking with brila.net on the outcome of the game,  Fidelis opined that the referee ruined the effort of his boys, despite their impressive performance.

“I think you know Nigeria football, we lost penalty to a 98thminutes penalty but i dont want to talk about officiating, because ifwe talk about that, we will destroy the effort of the NFF and LMC because they have done so much for the league this season.“he told brila.net.

“But there are some people who think they can destroy what LMCand NFF has done, but I dont want to talk about them because there‘s always judas.“

The former Dream Team VII assistant coach praised his boys for fighting till the end, and he added that the team will learn from the positive lessons from the game.

“I want to believe we can get better, I want to give it to the boys,they give their best but the referee decided to destroyeverything.“He concluded.

Heartland are currently 13th on the table with 32 points from 25 games so far.