BY ZULHILMI ZAINAL Follow on Twitter
Selangor FA (FAS) secretary-general Rosman Ibrahim has slammed the match official assigned to the Super League (MSL) match between Perak and Selangor, which was held on Tuesday.
Although the Red Giants won the match that was held at the Perak Stadium with a 1-0 final scoreline, the victory was earned at a very high cost. Out of the eleven Selangor players who started the match, at final whistle only defender Adam Nor Azlin avoided getting booked while Indonesia star Andik Vermansah was shown a straight red by referee Nafeez Abd Wahab.
Replays suggest that although Andik's tackle on Zaquan Adha Abdul Razak was late, there was minimal contact and the winger was sent off a little unfairly.
Despite playing with only 10 men, the visitors opened the scoring through an unlikely goal by Liberian forward Francis Forkey Doe in the 63rd minute, and they hanged on to the slim lead by the skin of their teeth, resorting to running down the clock and aggressive defending measures to register the win.
Speaking in an FAS press conference held on Thursday, Rosman said that the association has submitted an appeal regarding the red card to the Malaysian FA (FAM).
"We've submitted an appeal to the FAM this morning and asked them to review the footage from the match. We are not satisfied (with the refereeing), and ask that he not be assigned to officiate our matches in the future.
"His refereeing is frankly embarrassing to the league, he was not even looking at Andik before sending him off! The referee was running up the pitch, and when the incident happened he immediately flashed the red card," claimed Rosman.
However, he conceded that Andik will still have to miss Selangor's MSL match this Saturday; an away encounter against second-placed Kedah.
"We can't do much about it (the sending off), although we have appealed the red card our next match is this Saturday.
"We've lodged a complaint against the referee, Andik will be suspended for one match, and he will definitely be unavailable this Saturday," he added.
