New Delhi: East Bengal’s hopes of entering the AFC Cup quarter finals were dashed on Wednesday when they went down to Yemen League champions Ahli Sana’a by a solitary goal at Sana’a.

An extremely upset East Bengal coach Aloke Mukherjee said that his team paid the price of some crucial errors by the Tajikistan referee, Dilo Verskhhoh Orzaev. The home team scored the all important goal in the 44th minute through striker Ali Al Nono to take their tally of points to four in the four-team group that was played on home and away basis.

The victory didn’t take Ahli Sana’a anywhere as they still finished at the bottom of group B. The defeat, however, put paid to East Bengal’s chances of going to the next round as one of the three “best losers” in five groups. The Calcutta team finished their engagements on seven points.

The East Bengal coach was also sure a close scrutiny would prove that the goal against his team was scored from an off-side position. “I thought the assistant referee should have raised his flag, but he didn’t.

“The local team played physical game that surprised us. Perhaps, we should have received a little more protection from the referee,” said Mukherjee.

To add to East Bengal’s woes, two of their key players — Edmilson and Alvito D’Cunha — were forced off the field after getting injured. “It was a decisive blow for my team. We didn’t get either of them in the last 20 minutes. It effectively ended our hopes of getting the equaliser,” the coach said.

As if it wasn’t enough, Bolaji was sent off for his second yellow card offence during the closing stages of the match.

Ahli Sana’a were the better side in the first half and dominated the early exchanges. They had their first chance in the 11th minute when Fuad Al Ammari’s shot was saved by East Bengal goalkeeper Subrata Paul.

Ahli Sana’a continued to pile on the pressure and went close in the 22nd minute when Zaid Saleh steered Al Nono’s cross over the crossbar.

The crossbar then came to East Bengal’s rescue when Ahmed Ibrahim Kellil fired a long-ranger that rattled the woodwork.

But Ahli Sana’a eventually converted their superiority into a goal a minute before the half time when Al Nono broke the offside trap before sending a right-footer past the East Bengal goalkeeper.