"Referee didn't treat us equally," blasts Robbie Fowler after draw

The Englishman was furious with the match officials' decisions during the game.

"I am disappointed with the result. We played a large part of the game with 10 men and our lads were brilliant. They had a few chances, but couldn't bag a winner," said SC East Bengal coach Robbie Fowler after a goalless draw against Chennaiyin FC in the Indian Super League.

Steinmann's omission

Robbie Fowler justified his decision to start the game with Matti Steinmann on the bench. "It was a tactical move. Matti has played every single minute, he has played more or less every game. He came off with a little bit of problem against Bengaluru. The players who played tonight did a tremendous job. It was important that the lads who came to replace Matti were just as good.

"It's a game we should have won and with ten men we still played the better game. I think you have been massively disrespectful to the players who played. Talking about (Jacques) Maghoma, (Anthony) Pilkington and (Danny) Fox who has played high levels in England," he added.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFToCjnjRy8

'East Bengal have no problems'

The Red and Gold coach fumed when asked about the lack of goalscoring capabilities that SCEB are going through. He said, "Every single day it's a different question either on the defence or attack. It feels comic for me to answer these questions. I think we have not got a problem. Neither in defence nor in our attack."

Unfriendly match officials

"The officials have not been quite helpful to us. I am not denying that it was a red card, but the referee needs to reach his pocket at the same speed against the other team," quoted Robbie Fowler while speaking on the sending off of Ajay Chhetri and the decisions from the match officials.

Though he seemed quite satisfied with his players' display, he continued to raise his disagreement with the referees' decisions. "I didn't ask my team to play an aggressive brand of football. I want my team to win. I've told them to go out and play a game that can win us points. But, the referee doesn't want to treat us the same as the other team," he added.

High-spirited performance

The tactician stood by his players' brave display, as he said, "Definitely, the lads are highly spirited. We are keeping a simple mentality. Of course, we want to win games, we want to earn points. But, we don't want to lose and I think our performance truly depicts that."

The Englishman further praised Debjit Majumder for his heroics on the evening. "He has been brilliant since he has come in. I don't think he was the Man of the Match, he had a few good saves, but he fumbled a a few too. He needs to keep up the good work and continue the hard work he is doing," Robbie Fowler signed off.