MY SELANGOR team-mates and I couldn't help but feel that our evening's work at the Larkin stadium last Sunday was wiped out by the blunders of one man - referee Abdul Wahab Mohammad.
And the Timesport picture on Tuesday, proved that we were not just kicking up a storm when we claimed a penalty against Johore.
Pictures don't lie. And that picture showed Johore's Rosli Mahmud stretching out his right hand to punch the ball away.
But the whistle should have been blown. Abdul Wahab did blow for his whistle - but for a corner. Which means he had seen Abdul Muin's header, which had the word goal written all over it, touching a Johore defender before it went out of play. But which part of the body did the ball hit the Johore player?
Again, pictures don't lie, do they?
I don't intend to dwell on that incident. It's too painful. But then again what do we do? You might say that to blame a match official after a defeat, is always the easy way out and if you are good enough you will surmount all obstacles.
It's not as simple as that. Such a blunder, which is so embarassingly obvious, leaves me limp with anger.
The way Abdul Wahab handled the match, especially when it came to applying the advantage rule, made a mockery of the laws of the game.
Hell, we want to go out there and enjoy the match but Abdul Wahab was whistle happy and the stoppages for the slightest infringements, turned the match into a game of hockey.
I sympathies with referees who have to make quick decisions on the spot. Sometimes it's the wrong decisisons. It's only human.
But then again referees have to be mentally alert all the time if they want to do a good job. This will also reduce the number of errors of judgement.
It's most frustrating when we have a referee who is not sharp enough. The match then becomes a lottery. Is it fair to the teams?
Good referees play an important part in the development of the game.
Malaysia's image is at stake as well when our Fifa referees go abroad for international matches.
If they don't do their jobs competently, what will people think of Malaysian football?
Of course there are exceptions. I thought Osman Omar - who showed me my first red - had a superb Malaysia Cup final last year.
He was everything a good referee should be. Sharp, decisive and very aware of his linesmen. And I place people like, Koh Guan Kiat and Stephen Ovinis in that category too.
I also know it's the ultimate sin in football to criticise a referee. That would be inviting trouble. To protest, to argue against a referee is like burning the fuse to a bomb.
But certainly there is an urgent need for Malaysian football authorities to pull up our referees sometimes and examine the work they have done.
Show them the red card if they are found to be incompetent.
There has also got to be a watch-dog panel, keeping close watch on how the referee performs his work. For a start, they can begin with the Johore-Selangor match.
So Selangor have suffered their second defeat this season and for once in the dressing room after that defeat, I was not too sure of ourselves. What will happen next?
But as the heads began to clear and the frayed tempers cooled, a clearer picture emerged.
No, it's not the end yet. We have nine more matches to go and I assure our fans that Selangor will be in the Cup final.