Mohun Bagan complain AIFF about 'sub-standard refereeing'

City football giants Mohun Bagan once again wrote to the All India Football Federation (AIFF) alleging they were not given a penalty in their I-League game against laggards Gokulam FC which they lost 1-2 on Monday.

The defeat meant the 2015 champions are virtually out of the title race and with arch-rivals East Bengal winning against Minerva Punjab FC away on Tuesday, going within three points of the leaders with four matches to go, their misery was further compounded.

The loss meant Mohun Bagan's title hopes were all but over with eight points gap between the fourth placed Green and Maroons and leaders Minerva.

"We played against Gokulam Kerala FC and the panel of referees were from southern part of India, we had our hunch that things might go awry and unerringly our intuition was comprehend.

It is necessary to make an official complaint about the performance of referee Mr. Palmson Raj," Mohun Bagan director Debashis Dutta wrote in his mail to AIFF general secretary Kushal Das. I-League CEO Sunando Dhar was marked a copy.

"Mr Palmson struggled to keep up with tempo of the game and was often ahead of the play in order to keep up, resulting in wrong decisions and missed fouls.

"He made another horrendous mistake in the second half when he showed a yellow card to our player Dipanda Dicka, holding him culpable for a hand ball. If you look at the TV recording Dicka had clearly chest the ball down," Dutta wrote on Monday at at 11.16 p.m. The mail was shared with the media on Tuesday evening.

Dutta had earlier complained about "refereeing gaffe" in a mail sent at 6.48 p.m. on Monday for their away match against lowly Chennai City FC where they dropped points after a goalless draw.

--IANS

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