Assistant referee Joaquim Abranches committed a blunder as he failed to raise his flag for a suspected offside that led to a goal in Sporting Clube de Goa’s 1-3 defeat to Sesa FA in the Goa Professional League at Tilak Maidan, Vasco, on Tuesday.
The crucial match was tied at 1-1 when the incident took place in the second half as Sesa forward Joshua D’Silva had the advantage after being put through on goal.
“I personally am the biggest critic of my entire team, there is no doubt Sesa played well and they deserved to win. I don’t mind losing but such poor officiating has to stop,” said Sporting director Nathan Vaz.
Referee Joaquim, who has many such instances of poor officiating and was even assaulted in the past in the lower division at Chicalim, didn’t raise his flag for an offside.
“The players and the staff have put in so much effort throughout the season and it is extremely disappointing to see us take a step back from our dream due to the errors that could simply be avoided by the match official,” said Nathan.
Sesa took the lead in the 19th minute when Clencio Pinto charged into the rival area.
The attacker first deceived Sporting’s left-back Dhiraj Chouhan and then evaded a tackle from Alton Vaz to set up Shridarnath Gawas at the far post for an easy tap in.
Four minutes into the second half, Sporting equalised. After a short corner, Samuel Costa’s cross found Kunal Kundaikar and his fierce shot was connected by substitute Alister Anthony.
However, Sesa earned the controversial penalty in the 59th minute as Joshua was not flagged offside and was eventually brought down by Dhiraj in the danger zone.
Joshua stepped up for the spot kick and calmly got the better of Sporting custodian Bhaskar Jalmi.
Sporting dominated the last quarter, but a goal eluded them as headers from Dhiraj and a shot from Akeraj sailed over. In added time, Joshua secured his brace with a clinical finish.
