Westwood blames referee, opponents' rule breaking for home loss to Mohun Bagan

BENGALURU FC HEAD COACH Ashley Westwood was all fire and brimstone after losing the match to Mohun Bagan 2-0 at home. In the post match press conference, he blamed the whole thing on the referee and the opponents' breaking of rules.

Westwood did not mince words when talking about the referee Ajitkumar Lairenlakpam. Asked what went wrong, he made a snappy reply,

"The officials. It wasn't a fair game. As simple as that. It was a tie game, we were the best side for most of the time. When it came to our players, the referee couldn't wait to show the cards. I don't know who the referee was, and what kind of experience he has. I'm not sure if he has a FIFA badge, or why he's been allowed to officiate this game."

But would he take the issue up to AIFF? No, said Westwood,

"No, because nothing ever gets done. What's the point? We play week in week out, we get denied penalties... we've had real bad luck."

Never a stranger to controversy, Ashley Westwood was involved in another questionable incident during the match. During half-time he had a scuffle with the Mohun Bagan team manager and broke a wristwatch. When asked about what happened there, his reply was as nonchalant as ever,

"It was just football banter, I guess."

Westwood did not believe that this loss has landed them in some major trouble in the title race. But speaking about the rest of the season, he indirectly acknowledged that his team's main competition in the title race will be the Mariners,

"There's still a lot of matches left for us. Bagan's squad doesn't have much depth so let's see how they do."

And to round things up nicely, the coach did not forget to take a few shots at the opponent team as well,

"Three Bagan players, Jeje, Pronay Halder and Prabir Das, shouldn't be on the pitch today. They got called up to U-23 national team camp. We released our players to the camp as per FIFA rules. Mohun Bagan did not."