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Sports Reporter

Title-chasing Scottland has been forced to wait before it can close in on rivals and log leaders MWOS after the hooligan element that has rocked the Northern Region Soccer League championship race reared its ugly head again on Sunday.
The latest development took place at Chikangwe Stadium as Scottland was playing against Karoi United.

Visiting Scottland, who were clearly in the hunt for victory, saw their hopes being destroyed as the match ended prematurely following referee Mathew Dingo’s assault by some hooligans.

Referee Dingo’s decision to send off a Karoi Utd player, Edmore Mubatapasango, in the 80th minute, seemed to have sparked the violence.

Dingo subsequently called off the game.

The game will now be decided in the NRSL boardroom.

If precedence is followed, the match will be awarded to Scottland on a 3-0 scoreline.

The Karoi Utd and Scottland match was a high-stakes game.

Karoi Utd has been annointed as the party spoilers for teams seeking to claim the top position on the log standings.

On their part, MWOS was taking no prisoners, winning 2-1 over Harare City at Mkushi Academy grounds.

On the same day, Black Rhinos went down 2-0 to Chinhoyi Stars in Chinhoyi.

This meant that the NRSL title quest was becoming a two-horse race between MWOS and Scottland.

However, the recurrence of attacks on referees, especially in matches featuring MWOS or their closest rivals in the title chase, is worrying soccer fans.

Sunday’s events come a week after controversy marred MWOS’ league game away to Shamva Mine where home team supporters invaded the pitch and assaulted referee Never Dombo.