3rd December, Naihati: Sreenidi Deccan Football Club suffered a narrow 1-2 defeat to Mohammedan Sporting Club in an I-League Matchweek 8 clash here at the Naihati stadium on Sunday. The Deccan Warriors found themselves two goals down before substitute William Alves converted a late penalty to give his side a chance to fight back but to no avail.

Much of the build-up to the game was dominated by the inclusion of Mohammedan SC foreign players Mirjalol Kasimov and Alexis Gomez who were serving 8-match and 4-match suspensions respectively. In a late twist, the duo’s suspension seemed to have been revoked and both of them were in the Starting XI. It was the Uzbek Kasimov who gave the Black Panthers the lead with a strike from outside the box in the 37th minute after both sides had cancelled each other out in the opening periods.

In the second half, forward Eddie Hernandez doubled Mohammedan SC’s lead as he headed in a cross from the right in the 59th minute. That led to Sreenidi Deccan FC making a slew of substitutions of which two – William Alves and Lalbiakliana – combined to give the Deccan Warriors a route back into the game. The young Mizo winger was fouled in the box and Alves coolly converted an 84th minute penalty but it was too little too late.

Questions will be asked regarding when exactly the decision was made to revoke Kasimov and Alexis’ suspensions as Sreenidi Deccan Football Club had received no intimation of the same from the All India Football Federation right until the submission of the team sheets. In the Match Co-ordination Meeting a day prior to match, Match Commissioner Firdous Ahmed had confirmed the suspension of the above mentioned players in an official email and there has been no further communication regarding the same since.

Sreenidi Deccan FC will travel to Srinagar to face Real Kashmir in their next I-League encounter on December 7.