ISL 7: Refereeing ‘thankless task’, but it needs to get better, says Coyle

After registering a 2-1 win against ATK Mohun Bagan in the Indian Super League (ISL), Jamshedpur FC coach Owen Coyle said that refereeing needs to get better in the tournament as his side has been on the wrong end of the decisions in almost all the matches.

Coyle also highlighted how ATK Mohun Bagan’s goal was clearly offside and how it should not have been counted.

“I think you are asking about referring to the wrong man, every game we have had a bad decision so far. The first game, we were handed a soft penalty, we had a player harshly sent off, and against Hyderabad, we had scored a wonderful goal but that was chopped off and tonight ATK Mohun Bagan’s goal was clearly offside so it is not favourable for me, we have been costed big decisions, refereeing is a difficult job, it is a thankless task but they must decisions right,” said Coyle during the post-match press conference.

“Krishna was easily a yard offside so the goal shouldn’t have been counted and we should be 2-0 up. That’s clearly offside and we all knew that. The goal should never have been counted,” he added.

A fine brace from Nerijus Valskis had ensured Jamshedpur FC bagging their first win in the ongoing seventh season of ISL as they defeated ATK Mohun Bagan 2-1 here at the Tilak Maidan Stadium on Monday.

Valskis (30′, 66′) scored in either half for Coyle’s side, while Krishna pulled a late goal back for ATKMB. The result also meant ATKMB’s perfect run in the campaign came to an end following the defeat.

“Well, the psychological boost is to win the match and we deserved to win the match, obviously (against) the team that is on top of the league, the team that is unbeaten, the team which has not conceded a goal is obviously nice. But the points are important which we came very close to the last two or three matches, from start to finish we were the better team” Coyle said,” said Coyle.

Jamshedpur FC will next take on East Bengal on Thursday while ATK Mohun Bagan will lock horns with Hyderabad FC on Friday.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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