The Romanian referee in a fateful World Cup play-off between Switzerland and Northern Ireland in November has admitted making a mistake in awarding the Swiss a match-winning penalty. "It was a sad and not very nice moment for me," Ovidiu Hategan told Romanian television at a gala event for the country's football association this week. "Sad because I made this mistake and painful because otherwise on our side we had put in a good performance. In the world of refereeing it's the same for goalkeepers: your mistakes get noticed."