The referee killed us: Khalid Jamil

by Kaushal Shukla April 12, 2015

Mumbai FC suffered stoppage time heart break at home to Dempo after the visitors rode home on a late penalty by Carlos Hernandez. Khalid Jamil blasted the referee’s decision to award the away side the penalty which proved decisive in the end.

Khalid Jamil felt the referee did not use his common sense before pointing to the spot. “I didn’t feel it was a penalty. The player had his back to the goal and went down in anticipation. But the referee should have used some common sense before awarding the penalty”.

The Mumbai FC Head Coach accused the referee of not doing his homework well and being carried away by the talks of play acting against his players. “The referee did not do his homework well. But he was too keen to discipline me or punish my players for acting. There was no need to book my goalkeeper, but the referee just wanted to stamp his authority on the game. But sadly, that is not the right way and we are suffering”.

Jamil believed it was a tight game which could have gone either way, but the manner in which it went Dempo’s way wasn’t acceptable to him. “It was a 50-50 game and anyone could have won it. Both of us had decent chances, but the manner in which it panned out, it’s not acceptable”.

Although Khalid Jamil refused to comment regarding a review committee for referees he believed the ones controlling the affairs should check the qualities of referees and tell him about his mistakes. “The body which governs the referees should send good referees to officiate. They should also review his performance from time to time and let him know about it”.

Mumbai FC now face three tough away games and Jamil believes, the referee killed his team ahead of these games and feels he has a task on his hands to lift them before they take on East Bengal at the Salt Lake Stadium next Sunday.

“The team was growing in terms of performances keeping in mind last week’s result. A point would have been good and we weren’t negative and working for all three points. But the referee’s blunder has totally killed my team and demoralised them”.

A disgruntled Khalid Jamil is now hoping his side reproduce the kind of comeback his side made against Bengaluru FC to recover from this result. “The only way to get over this disappointment is by performing well in the next game. There is no other ways. We did it against Bengaluru on Tuesday and we have to do it again on Sunday”.

The coach warned his players to be more alert when making challenges at places like East Bengal where the crowd has a big impact on the referees. “We must take a lesson and be more careful in the box, especially at places like the Salt Lake Stadium where even the slightest of falls could result in a penalty”.

Khalid Jamil was clearly displeased by the referee and the result but hopes to somehow pick himself and his team up for three extremely tough encounters in the coming days. These are tough times for the Mumbai FC coach but as seen in the past, diversity has brought out the best out Khalid Jamil.