Super Cup 2018: Ishfaq Ahmed - The match officials made a big deal out of half-time clash

Jamshedpur FC assistant coach Ishaq Ahmed suggested that the players' scuffle was a petty issue and should not have been given so much importance....

went down 1-5 against in a dramatic Super Cup quarterfinal clash on Wednesday in Bhubaneswar. The match saw three players from each side sent off due to a clash at halftime. The second half of the match witnessed an eight-a-side match.

Speaking to Goal, Jamshedpur FC assistant coach Ishfaq slammed the referee's decision and said, "I wasn’t there initially but when I came everything was resolved by that time and the players were separated. There was a little bit of pushing, our goalkeeping coach was involved. It happens. This is not the first time it happened. I think the officials handled it poorly. They made a big deal out of it. It happens in international matches. If you remember the Roy Keane vs Patrick Vieira incident in the vs match. I don’t think it should have been a big issue."

He continued, "Common sense says, that a more matured way of handling it would have been calling the manager and telling him to control the players. Both the teams were surprised when they were called and told about the red cards."

The former midfielder opined that FC Goa's Hugo Boumous should have received a second yellow for kicking the ball after referee's whistle but as six players were already sent off the referee could not afford to show any more red cards.

"Later in the game, the referee was not showing yellow cards because they did not want to reduce the teams to seven men. (Hugo) Boumous should have got one more yellow, he was already on a yellow. He hit the ball after the whistle which is always yellow. It was like a free fall as nobody was going to get a red card anymore," said Ahmed.

Ishfaq termed the situation unwanted and suggested that the referee and the officials could have handled the situation in a better manner. "I don’t know what the match commissioner will write in the report. We will see that. For me, it could have been handled in a better way. It was unwanted," said Steve Coppell's deputy.