ZIMBABWE international defender Costa Nhamoinesu has described German referee Manuel Grafe’s decision to award Southampton an early penalty as a “harsh one” after his side Sparta Prague fell to a morale sapping 0-3 defeat in a Europa Group K match on Thursday night.

Nhamoinesu was adjudged to have handled the ball while attempting to block Southampton striker Charlie Austin, who subsequently converted the spot kick after only five minutes of play.

Respected football website BBC.com also described the penalty incident as controversial in their report of the Europa clash.

“Austin opened the scoring with a controversial penalty after Costa Nhamoinesu was harshly adjudged to have handled while challenging the striker,” the BBC wrote soon after the match.

In an exclusive interview with SportsZone Friday afternoon, Nhamoinesu had reservations over the referee’s decision although he admitted his side failed to match Southampton’s physical attributes.

“About the penalty, I think I was a bit unlucky. I went in to block the ball but it bounced off my hip and hit my elbow.

“I am not sure how high my hand was, the referee took some time to decide and he later changed his decision.

“So I guess he saw a penalty, it was a harsh one,” said the Zimbabwe national team defender.

Austin made it two with a header before Jay Rodriguez added a late third as Southampton ran riot at St Mary’s.

“It was a difficult night for us, they were a better side than us. It is a different league so we had to combine both physical abilities and technical skills.

“I think we have more ball players and at that level, you have to combine both on the same line,” said Nhamoinesu.

Nhamoinesu’s Sparta Prague are also in the same Europa group with fading Italian giants Inter Milan who were shocked 2-0 at the San Siro by Israeli champions Hapoel Beer-Sheva.