Evans sorry for wife’s racist tirade at referee

NORTHERN IRELAND midfielder Corry Evans was forced to apologise yesterday after his wife launched an astonishing attack on the Romanian referee who awarded a penalty against him in the World Cup play-off defeat to Switzerland. Ovidiu Hategan harshly penalised Evans for handball at Windsor Park, allowing the Swiss to take a crucial one-goal advantage into tomorrow’s second leg in Basle. Hategan also booked the Blackburn player, meaning he will miss the game through suspension. Evans’s wife Lisa reacted furiously by posting a foulmouthed message on Twitter, saying: ‘Romanian gypsy c***!!! And to actually think Northern Ireland has probably homed one of his smelly relatives!! Ungrateful t***!!’ She later deleted the tweet and closed down her account, but 27-year-old Evans (right, with wife Lisa) — who branded the referee’s decision ‘disgraceful’ after the game — apologised in a statement issued by the Irish FA. It read: ‘On behalf of my wife, I would like to apologise unreservedly for the content and language contained in the tweet that she issued last night. determination to salvage their World Cup dream. ‘We have nothing to lose now,’ said manager Michael O’Neill. ‘We are a little bit of a victim and we have to use it in that way. We will see how the Swiss deal with it on their home territory.’ Meanwhile, Stoke’s Xherdan Shaqiri warned that Northern Ireland will be vulnerable if they go for broke. ‘Northern Ireland will have to play more offensively,’ said Shaqiri. ‘They have to score, but that will mean it is more open for us.’

‘The comments were published in the heat of the moment and are not representative of her views.’ The Northern Ireland squad flew to Switzerland yesterday with a burning sense of injustice and a