The referee who officiated the Northern Region Soccer League game between Karoi United and title-chasing Scottland, has been accused of faking an injury to deliberately cause the abandonment of the match.

32-year-old Mathew Dingo, officiated the tense match played at Chikangwe Stadium last Sunday, which was abandoned in the 88th minute with both sides level at 1-1.

Former Warriors defender Ronald Pfumbidzai thrust Scottland ahead in the first half before Peter Bhero restored parity for Karoi in the second stanza.

With two minutes of regulation time remaining, according to a Karoi player who spoke to Soccer24 on condition of anonymity, the referee was hit by a match ball which was thrown back into play by a spectator, and fell to the ground.

“It’s sad that the story is now being twisted. There was no violence whatsoever at the end of our game with Scottland. The ball went out of play, and it was thrown back onto the field of play and accidentally hit the referee,” claimed the player.

“The referee exaggerated the impact and threw himself on the ground. We helped him to get back to his feet but he went down again, before telling the match commissioner that he was unable to continue.

“What’s shocking in all of this, is the fact that he referee (Dingo) was able to walk to the dressing when the game was called off but was apparently not fit enough to officiate the remaining two minutes of  it,” he added .

The player insists having the game abandoned was something premeditated, claiming that the referee even tried to do so at the beginning of the second half.

“Before the second half started, the referee called our coach (Wonder Ngoko), who went onto the field of play. The official told Ngoko that the game was too tense and he was failing to handle it,” claimed the Karoi player.

“You can even ask the match commissioner if he is not aware of that incident. So it’s sad that the story is now being twisted to say spectators were violent and hurt the referee.

“If our supporters wanted to react violently, the could have done so when our teammate Edmore (Mubatapasango) was show a questionable red card in the second half,” he added.

The Northern Region Soccer League leadership is yet to issue a statement on the abandoned match.