Fowler found guilty Mumbai City down Kerala Blasters
East Bengal football club's high-profile English coach Robbie Fowler was on Wednesday suspended for four matches and fined Rs 5 lakh after being found guilty of making "insulting" remarks against Indian referees at the ongoing ISL but the World Cupper insisted there was nothing racist about his outburst. Fowler was handed the punishment by the All India Football Federation's disciplinary committee headed by senior lawyer Ushanath Banerjee. Fowler had said that he was "not sure whether the Referees have an
Anti-English thing or Anti East Bengal thing." "The Committee held such utterances and publications are gross inconceivable derogatory and contemptuous aspersions apart from blatant malice on the part of Mr. Fowler and tends to offend the dignity, reputation and image of the Referees in India," read the disciplinary panel's detailed order. The panel asked him to explain what he meant by his statement.
Fowler, according to the committee, did not respond and "said that he never intended to make any racist remarks and no malice was ever intended."
Kerala Blasters squandered a lead once again as Mumbai City FC came from behind to win 2-1 in the Hero Indian Super League at the GMC Stadium, Bambolim, on Wednesday.
After missing many chances, Adam Le Fondre’s 67th-minute penalty proved decisive after Bipin Singh (46') had earlier cancelled out Vicente Gomez first-half goal (27').
Kerala made three changes as Bakary Kone, Prasanth Karuthadathkuni and Yondrembem Denechendra found places in starting XI, while for Sergio Lobera’s Mumbai, Adam Le Fondre, Vignesh Dakshinamurthy, and Cy Goddard were given a start.
The first half was an exciting affair filled with plenty of action including a goal, missed chances, and some goalkeeping heroics from both teams. Raynier Fernandes came close in the eighth minute but his shot from outside the box went just over the bar.
Then it was Le Fondre who had one of the best chances of the game. In the 11th minute, he danced his way past two Kerala defenders, but his shot from a narrow-angle beat both the keeper and the post.
While the strikers were misfiring for Mumbai, their goalkeeper was at his best. Amrinder Singh dived fully to deny Kone from scoring a header. He then denied Rahul KP from close and frustrated Jordan Murray too.