I-League: East Bengal stunned by Churchill Brothers, support staff abuses referee

Trouble erupted after East Bengal suffered a 1-2 defeat to Churchill Brothers as fans booed coach Trevor Morgan and a home side support staff member was seen abusing referee Santosh Kumar. The match referee took a serious note of the incident that happened at the Vidyasagar Krirangan in Barasat (West Bengal) on Tuesday.

Furious at their defensive woes that led to the defeat, fans booed East Bengal coach Trevor Morgan by chanting "go back" soon after the loss and a coaching official abused the referee. The furious fans broke the cordon of the mixed zone and police had to intervene to calm the situation. There were, however, no arrests.

"I have taken note of everything and will mention it in my report," match commissioner Binod Singh said as the trouble meant that they were held up by protesting crowd for about one and a half hours after the match got over.
It remains to be seen whether the red and gold brigade will escape any punishment from the All India Football Federation.

Terming their first half as the worst and horrific, Morgan said: "It's hard to believe (the loss). We were sloppy, lazy in the defence. They had one striker and we have three players and he still went in and scored! Wish I had seven substitutions..."

Morgan, however, said the league was still wide open. This was a hat-trick of wins for Derrick Pereira who took over four matches ago.