The first half went without any incidents as both teams played in a rigid conventional 4-4-2 system and relied on long balls.
Western Railway and Rashtriya Chemical Fertilisers (RCF) played out a 1-1 draw in the Elite division of the MDFA’s Mumbai Football League, at Cooperage, on Wednesday. The game was marred by rash tackling, frayed tempers and questionable refereeing decisions.
The first half went without any incidents as both teams played in a rigid conventional 4-4-2 system and relied on long balls. The game sprang into life in the second half as both teams tried to increase the tempo and win the ball higher up the pitch.
Western Railway were the first to open their account in the 55th minute, when Somnath Mondal crossed the ball from the left flank to the arriving Anil Pawar on the far post. Pawar headed the ball down, but was brilliantly denied by RCF goalie Asif Ansari.
Unfortunately for Ansari, the ball rebounded of his feet and landed perfectly for Pawar to tap it into an empty net.
Things started to get ugly as Somnath Mondal and Sagar Chile clashed and had to be held back by their respective teammates. Both of them were shown the yellow card. The referee had to caution a number of players.
All the RCF pressure paid dividends at the end as substitute Ubaid Ansari sent in a cross that was the mirror image of Mondal’s assist, but his ball in the box was seemed to be lost in the mayhem until Sunny Sangar kicked it in. Western Railway players were appealing to the referee that the ball touched the hand of one of the RCF attackers but the referee decided that it was a legitimate goal.
In a desperate attempt to regain their lead the railway-men put bodies in the opposition box and launched the ball in from the midfield. Twice they appealed to the referee for a penalty but were turned down.
Western Railway coach, Kaushik Pal, was livid with the refereeing. “They cannot get such decisions wrong at the end of the game when they can change the result of the game. One of their players
had handled the ball before the goal was scored and at the other end we were denied at least two penalties,” said Pal.
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