“The referee’s blunder has cost us the match. It’s difficult to plan a game with 10 men. I had to play Samson Sigh on the right in the second half instead of playing upfront,” said an angry Ghosh.
The incident took place in the 31st minute when Njoh and Tutu fell down with the latter clinging to the former’s body. As Njoh got up, he happened to touch the face of the Viva defender.
Tutu George was then seen squirming in pain and Air India players were amongst the first to call the doctor. The defender held his chest and it appeared that he was gasping for breath.
After being stretchered out, the defender came back on the field and lasted for a full 90 minutes. Referee Deepak Singh in consultation with the linesman Dinesh Nair gave marching orders to Njoh.
The Air India coach lashed out at the match officials and organizers for having a Malayali referee in a game involving a Malayali club.
“The linesman was a Malayali eventhough from Gujarat. I am not surprised by his decision.”
Ghosh said that he couldn’t believe that Njoh can hit a player.
“He has come 10-15 days back and till now, he hasn’t touched a single player. I can’t believe this horror decision.”
To further infuriate the Air India camp, the Man of the Match award was awarded to the man in question Tutu George.
“This player (Tutu) has acted to get a player sent off and he gets the Man of the Match Award. We played with just Basheeru upfront and a Viva defender gets the award”, mocked Ghosh.
Bimal Ghosh appealed to all the journalists saying, “Please write about this otherwise, football would never come up. Such incidents kill football.”
Air India face Mohun Bagan away from home and will be without Njoh and Sule Musa who got his second yellow in as many games.


source:goal.com