SC East Bengal forward Antonio Perosevic’s five-match ban could have been reduced by at least a game if the team management had shown more alacrity.

When the All India Football Federation (AIFF) disciplinary committee met on Monday after the player appealed against the ban, no one from the team management attended the virtual meeting.

“We kept on calling the person who was supposed to be online (SC East Bengal CEO Shivaji Samaddar), but strangely he was incommunicado. Then we got in touch with another senior official who said he didn’t know why the person was not receiving calls. Finally after an hour-and-half the CEO called back but the disciplinary committee members had already decided that the ban would be upheld. Had he made himself available then the committee could have been a bit lenient,” a source told The Telegraph on Tuesday.

“Now the club has to shell out Rs 1 lakh (the fine amount) and an additional Rs 60,000 (towards the cost and expenses of the appeal). If they do not do that, the player would miss one more match,” the source added.

Perosevic was handed the ban after “violent conduct towards a match official” during the ISL VIII game against NorthEast United FC on December 17. SC East Bengal had lost the match 0-2.

He had appealed to reduced the penalty last Saturday. Perosevic mentioned in his appeal that he “had no intention of making contact with the referee or indulging in any act that constitutes violent conduct”.

Perosevic has already served four of his five-game suspension. The Croatian is slated to miss out on SC East Bengal’s next game against FC Goa on January 19.

The team management’s absence on Monday did not go down well with people who follow the football team closely. “It was very unprofessional on the management’s part,” a person who did not wish to go on record said.

SCEB lose again

Ishan Pandita scored a late goal as Jamshedpur FC beat SC East Bengal 1-0 in an ISL match in Bambolim on Tuesday