TEN-man Kumasi Asante Kotoko team yesterday bowed out of the Africa Champions League largely due to the controversial decisions of Referee Huus Lambogoje from Mauritania.

The Ghana Champions lost 0-2 to Ittihad Khemisset in far away Morocco. Kotoko thrashed the Moroccans 3-1 three weeks ago in Ghana; however, the away goal scored by Khemisset helped them to advance to the next stage of the competition at the expense of the Ghana Champions.

Reports monitored by DAILY GUIDE SPORTS indicate that the Mauritanian FIFA referee played as the twelfth-man for the Moroccans before they could tame the Ghanaians.

Referee Lambogoje was said to have frustrated the Kotoko players throughout the 90 minutes, whistling for offside whenever the Kotoko attacking line came close to the vital area of the home side.

The entire Kotoko team, who could not come to terms with the fact that their Champions League aspirations had been shattered, wailed uncontrollably when the game ended.

George Amoako, a member of the Kotoko management team who made the trip, lambasted the referee for robbing Kotoko in broad-day light.

Khemisset started the game on a flashy note, pushing Kotoko to the wall for the better part of the early stages.

But after surviving the early scare, Kotoko took the game to their opponents, bombarding their goal area with a series of raids; but against the run of play, luck smiled on the home side as they broke the deadlock.

Immediately after recess, the Mauritanian referee sent Osei Kwame Jnr. parking after a mild contact with an opponent.

The home side could not capitalize on their numerical advantage as Kotoko rather pinned them to the wall on several occasions.

However, with about six minutes to the end of the game, Khemisset scored the match winner via Abdul Sahim’s solo effort.

Then on, Kotoko accepted the challenge in good faith, piling pressure on the home side in an attempt to fetch a goal to stay in the tournament, but the referee whistled for offside whenever they came close to the goal area.