Controversy mars C Rly’s victory

But it was the encounter between Central Railway and Rail Coach Factory (RCF), Kapurthala that hogged the limelight albeit for all the wrong reasons. A goal disallowed by the referee infuriated the RCF players, who thrashed the referee and linesman after the contest was over.

The origin of the dispute came immediately after Central Railway’s Pradeep Saha had put his side ahead in the 82nd minute. Stung by the reversal, RCF stepped up the raids and almost scored the equaliser, three minutes later. Mid-fielder Manjit Singh’s floater that loomeddangerously over the Central Railway goal was shoddily collected by goalkeeper R Khanolkar. It resulted in the ball spilling out of the custodian’s hands. Junior international Naresh Kumar, who was lurking around, seized the opportunity and bulged the net. However, the jubilant RCF players were stunned when referee Ved Prakash disallowed the goal as the linesman A S Subramaniam had raised the flag.

Furious RCF players rushed towards the linesman and a fracas ensued. It resulted in Naresh Kumar receiving marching orders. The RCF coach and manager decided that had enough of it by pulling out the team from the contest. But former Indian basketball star Ajmer Singh, who is part of the RCF team-management, infused better sense cajoling the players to take the field.

After the referee blew the final whistle, he ran towards the reserve referee desk. But he was blocked and beaten up by the RCF players. The linesman Subramanium too was targeted and was also bashed up.

RCF manager Parminder Singh while speakingto Express Newsline felt that his players simply lost their cool owing to the contradictory views of the referee and the linesman. "According to the referee, Naresh Kumar was booked for infringement while the linesman disallowed the goal for off-side play. How can there be two different decisions for one move?," he wondered.

Striker Manoj Rawat’s goal in the first session put Western Railway ahead. Nippy striker Kaushik Pal then sealed the victory by scoring the second after resumption.

Northern Frontier striker Duleswar Rabha’s low powerful strike in the 72nd minute from top of the box beat Northern Railway goalkeeper Biswasnath Deb.

The hard-working forward Ashok Nazary made full use of a splitting Joi Prasad Moron pass from the centre-line by sidestepping two NR defenders and the goalkeeper to tap the ball into an open net for NFR’s second goal.

Subhashish Chakraborty’s golden goal enabled South Eastern Railway to get past Chitranjan Locomotive Works (CLW). After both the teams failed toscore in extra time, golden goal rule was applied.

Chakraborty’s strike sealed CLW’s fate.

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