ISL 2017: Delhi Dynamos’ Shakti Chauhan - It was not a fair game

Delhi Dynamos suffered their fourth consecutive defeat of the Indian Super League (ISL) season four as they were trounced 1-5 by FC Goa.

Gabriel Cichero was sent-off in the 68th minute after picking his second yellow card of the evening after he fouled Adrian Colunga. He received his first yellow card in the sixth minute after bringing down Ferran Corominas from behind.

Add to this, head coach Miguel Angel Portugal was also sent-off for his protests with the fourth official and the referee Palmson Moses Raj.

Assistant coach Shakti Chauhan opined that Cichero didn’t deserve a card for either of the two fouls.

“I will not say anything about the referee since it will only come back to bite me. It was not a fair game. You saw the game. It was unfair. There were a lot of decisions against us. It was not a yellow card. Neither the first (foul) nor the second one were a booking,” said Chauhan.

ISL

Albino Gomes picked up an injury in their last home defeat to Jamshedpur FC on December 6th and as a consequence, Sukhadev Patil started in goal. The 19-year-old looked short on confidence as it was his error which led to the opening goal of the match. Chauhan revealed that the former ONGC player is in fact their third choice goalkeeper.

“Albino is definitely out for a few games. We don’t know yet what the injury is. He has had an MRI and the medical team is looking into it.

“Sukhadev Patil is a young upcoming goalkeeper. He is only 19. Our first choice goalkeeper is injured and so is our number two Arnab Das Sharma who is not fit. He (Sukhadev) did a good job. It was difficult with 10-men,” he mentioned.

With goalkeepers committing several errors this season across all ISL teams, Chauhan believes that the Indian custodians need time and experience to improve.

“The Indian goalkeepers will learn a lot from this experience. This year we are allowed one less overseas player in the starting eleven and so many teams have gone in for Indian goalkeepers. They will learn and get better,” he reasoned.

Delhi Dynamos next embark on a trip to Kolkata where they shall face fellow strugglers ATK on December 23rd.