FIRST Division club Golden are gathering evidence for an appeal by Bosnian forward Alen Bajkusa who was sent off by the referee for allegedly spitting at the linesman during the Senior Shield second round clash against Happy Valley last Saturday. Referee Cheung Chung-ping, who officiated the match, has explained his reason for giving Bajkusa the red card to the senior officials of the Hong Kong Football Association and Golden's president Simon Wan Chi-lok. But Bajkusa denied the referee's statement, although he admitted he had uttered a bad word to the referee. 'How could I stand in the centre of the pitch and spit to the linesman who was standing at the sideline?' said the 23-year-old. 'Maybe I have spat at the ground but I didn't spit at the linesman. 'I was offside, the referee came to me and I argued with him. All of sudden he pulled out his red card and said I had spat at the linesman - but the linesman did not tell the referee that I had done it at all.' Golden refused to restart the game after the incident but eventually continued to play and lost 5-4 in a penalty shootout after a goalless 120 minutes. Golden's president Wan said he would ask for the videotape of the game in order to launch an appeal with the sport's governing body. 'I believe the referee sent Alen off because Alen had argued with him many times before,' said Wan. 'The referee was just looking for an excuse.' Happy Valley's veteran defender Leung Shui-wing, who was standing at the nearest spot to the incident, supported Bajkusa's story. 'I didn't see Bajkusa spit at the linesman,' said Leung yesterday. 'I feel sorry for him.' In other local news, bottom team Kitchee are set to sign Chris Curran, an English player formerly with Scarborough and Carlisle.
