Houghton accused of abusing match official

New Delhi: National football coach Bob Houghton could land himself in trouble for allegedly misbehaving with one of the match referees in India`s international friendly against Yemen in Pune on October 13.

Sources in the AIFF said Dinesh Nair, the fourth referee in the match, had lodged a complaint alleging that Houghton had abused him for signalling the addition of two minutes in the first half add-on time by calling him "you Indian referees". Houghton was furious with the addition of two minutes as he thought at least five minutes would be added as Clifford Miranda`s injury in the 15th minute had taken a lot of time and India were trailing 1-2 in the first half of the match which the home side eventually lost 3-6. The Englishman came out of the technical area and started arguing with Nair who told him the decision on the add-on time was solely taken by the referee, the sources said. "The matter has now been referred to the Executive Committee," the sources added. When contacted by a news agency, Nair did not deny that he had reported the matter to the AIFF, simply saying that "I won`t comment on the matter as I am not authorised to speak to the media". Match referee D`Costa confirmed a report has been submitted to the AIFF on the complaint of Nair but refused to divulge the details. "I can`t speak on this issue. It is upto the AIFF to decide on it," he said. PTI