Federation Cup 2011 Second Semi Final: East Bengal reach finals after poor refereeing show

Federation Cup 2011 Second Semi Finals

                                                     

Prayag United SC   1 - 2  East Bengal

PU: Snehasish Dutta 16'

EB : Alan Gow (Pen 37'), Paite 82' 

Red Cards: Josimar (Prayag United,77'), Deepak Mondal(Prayag United, 81')

East Bengal reached the finals of the 33rd edition of Federation Cup after some poor refereeing show on display by the on field referees. Prayag United played their heart out but in the end the two red cards shown against them proved to be too much to handle.

The referee flashed Joshimar a second yellow, when Joshimar unnecessarily lunged into an East Bengal player off the ball in the East Bengal box. While the second yellow card seemed justified, the first one for Josimar was unnecessary. The incident took place when Sandip Nandi seemed to have fouled the Brazilian forward but referee waived away the protests and instead showed a yellow card to Josimar. Moments after that Nirmal Chhetri, who was the last man in defence, fouled Josimar but for some strange reason the referee gave a Yellow card where one can expect a straight Red. Then came the 75th minute, where Josimar was given a second booking and had to leave the field. Ex-Indian International Deepak Mondal was given the marching orders shortly after that for a sliding tackle on a East Bengal forward. The match winning goal was scored few minutes after the two Red Cards in the 82nd minute when Khem Thang Paite scored from a sweet right footed shot outside the box.

There were several other moments in the match when the refereeing decisions was questionable. Some clear goal bound opportunities were declared offside and one has to agree that it was Prayag United which had to face the heat of it. Even the final whistle was blown when Prayag United were completely into attack and still there were good 40 seconds left in the clock. Such was the disappointment that Prayag United Skipper Lalkamal Bhowmick hugged the on-field referee seconds after the final whistle. The midfielder was quite clearly annoyed about the bad refereeing and did his best to express it.

Nevertheless, East Bengal will face Salgaocar SC in the final of the Federation Cup 2011 on 29th October.