KAA Gent’s tactician Hein Vanhaezebrouck has termed Joseph Okumu’s theatrics that saw him sent off in their match against Sporting Charleroi as unacceptable.The Kenyan international defender was given his marching orders just 39 minutes in the game after retaliating having been fouled by Charleroi’s forward Isaac Mbenza.🟥 | Carton rouge direct pour Joseph Okumu. 👊😮 #CHAGNT pic.twitter.com/QlbF5FC9Y9— Eleven Sports (FR) (@ElevenSportsBEf) September 4, 2022 After being pushed by Mbenza, an angry Okumu went into arms with the former Huddersfield Town man only for the referee to rush flashing a straight red card to the former Chemilil Sugar defender while Mbenza walked scot-free.Speaking after the match, while Vanhaezebrouck believed it was not fair for Mbenza to walk from the tussle without an encounter, he slammed his defender for the unacceptable reaction, noting that he let his team down.”Joseph Okumu is a great guy, but what he did there is unacceptable. He let his team down for a boost. I have no problem with the red card, it’s justified I do have a problem with Mbenza’s foul It goes unpunished Well, if you always get red from now on because you react to a foul, then I’ll accept that. Then it’s clear, anyway we decide the match here ourselves,” Vanhaezebrouck said after the match as quoted on the club’s official website.Assist for Wanyama as Montreal beat Toronto on the roadAt the time of Okumu’s unprecedented exit, the two sides level at 1-1 Hyunseok Hong had given Gent the lead after 22 minutes but his goal was canceled out by Ryota Morioka’s strike 15 minutes later, two minutes before the red card.Gent tried to hold on in the second half but they crumbled in the 73rd minute when Adem Zorgane gave Charleroi the lead for the first time in the match, and they went on to hold to the lead to the final whistle.The Buffaloes had a chance to climb to fourth on the log, but, instead, they dropped to seventh with Charleroi overtaking them by a point.
