Bermudian linesman Gregory Simons was yesterday erroneously accused of attacking the doctor accompanying Nicaragua?s football team.

A news report in Nicaraguan daily newspaper, , yesterday cited a litany of officiating complaints following the Central Americans? 3-0 loss to Bermuda on Wednesday night, chief among which was Simons? alleged attack.

However, it was the match?s other linesman, Tony Mouchette, who had a brief altercation with the doctor, Cupertino Borrell, shortly before the final whistle.

Mouchette was yesterday quick to dismiss the charge that he deliberately attacked Borrell and struck him on the head. He also scoffed at the claim that he ?justified his actions saying that they could not touch him? as the paper stated.

In fact, it was more a case of Borrell ?attacking? him, he noted.

?I was facing the field of play and I felt somebody grab my left arm. I was startled because the game was in progress so my natural reaction was to pull my arm away and in doing so it made contact with his head

?That?s all it was. I just brushed him away. It was no bloody attack. It was a quick reaction.?

Mouchette added that Borrell tapped him on the hand as he grabbed him and seemed to be saying something about ?time? but he was not sure given the language barrier with the Spanish-speaking man. What he is certain of is that the Nicaraguan official was out of place to do what he did.

?Nobody has a right to come up and grab my arm when I am on my line. I was actually on the touchline. The game was still going on.

?They have a translator on the bench. If they wanted to ask something they should ask him to ask me or the fourth official,? stated the linesman.

The newspaper article also accused referee Stuart Crockwell of being biased towards the home team and blamed the visitors? defeat on blatant favouritism.

Francisco Jarquin Soto, here to cover the friendly matches for , declared that the Nicaraguans were robbed in his story headlined ??; a reference to the foul against Shaun Goater that resulted in Bermuda?s second goal.

?Even thought the Bermuda team was faster on the field and sometimes left the defence standing, there were fouls from the locals, especially when it came to a penalty given by referee Stuart Crockwell which enabled the local eleven to win 3-0,? wrote Soto.

He quoted irate Nicaraguan coach, Maurizio Battistini, as saying: ?It is impossible to play well with a referee as biased as the one we had. The truth is that it does not surprise me.?

However, Battistini acknowledged his team?s flaws, noting they needed a better mental attitude.

?We should have attacked with more force, but the boys were demoralised after the penalty and that has to change.

?We have to keep on working on the mindset of the player to not back down in the game under any circumstances,? said Battistini.