Heartland call Haut Nkam sore losers
Heartland have berated Cameroon's Unisport Haut Nkam for comments following their elimination from the Caf Confederation Cup.
Unisport head coach, Pierre Njili said earlier this week: "We clearly experienced what Africa's referrring pattern is all about with the home advantage stuff. We will do all that is administratively possible to let our complain to Caf be heard."
The Cameroonian side had refused to continue the game last weekend after Heartland took a 2-1 lead in stoppage time and handed their Nigerian opponents the chance to progress.
The reverse fixture ended goalless in Douala, Cameroon a fortnight ago.
Heartland in response to Njili say the Unisport was quoted as claiming that the home fans invaded the pitch after Heartland scored their winning goal in the last minute of the extra time and threatened that his side would petition Caf over the matter.
In a swift reaction, spokesman of Heartland, Cajetan Nkwopara, told SuperSport.com that the allegation by the Unisport coach was unfounded and a cover up for the 'show of shame' which they displayed by refusing to continue with the game after they conceded a second goal.
"The claim by coach Njili is absurd, unfounded and obviously an attempt by Unisport to escape justice. No single fan neared the pitch while the game lasted.
"What happened was that after conceding the second goal very late in the game, Unisport players preferred to confront the referee and his assistants instead of restarting the game.
"They had played all the pranks to 'kill time' when the game was level at 1-1 and when we (Heartland) came with another goal, they were hopeless at that point in time and decided to display their unruly and unprofessional attitude by holding up the game.
"I think the referee showed a lot of patience with them and waited for more than 15 minutes before he signalled the end of game.
"I expect the referee and match commissioner to report accurately what they saw. Unisport should not escape punishment," the Naze Millionaires' official said.
The duo of Heartland strikers, Kabiru Umar scored for the hosts while Gerrard Barkinde scored for Unisport.
