Soundararajan praises his team for brave show

“My team has played excellent football under pressure. We maintained the ball possession, all the players were working hard. I am very happy to beat a team like Minerva in what was effectively a do-or-die match. Initially, we concentrated on defending and in the second half we went for the attack,” said the 54-year-old. 

Minerva coach Khogen Singh, however, was furious after the match as he vehemently protested against the officials. He claimed that the second goal which was scored by Rakic was offside.

He said,”We were playing 14 versus 11! How can we win the match with that! The second goal was a clear offside. The linesman wasn’t in the right position which is why he didn’t see the line. The referee’s decisions changed everything. The referees have done mistakes in previous matches too but I have been patient with those. 

“This was a crucial match, however. Because of the referee’s decision my captain (Kassim Aidara) was furious. Otherwise, our players never feel so. This was the first time our players felt enraged. We always have controlled the players but this was a crucial match because it was title-deciding. Whatever has happened has happened, but I am very upset.” 

Singh continued, “Even in Goa it (the mistakes)  happened and we lost (against Churchill). I excused them (the referees) because they’re also humans who make mistakes. But this was a title-deciding match and they need to be sincere. We won’t file a complaint but everyone who has watched it on the television and the crowd, know what happened,” he added.