The player of Gorno Lisiche will pay a high price for his behavior in the interrupted Round 22 game against Skopje in the Second League.

Gorno Lisiche visited local rivals Skopje on 19 April in a game that was played at the Gjorche Petrov stadium. Skopje scored the opening goal in the 83rd minute through Nafi Osmani, but it was full of controversy as the ball hit the crossbar and fell somewhere around the goal line. It didn’t appear to fully cross the line. Assistant referee Mervin Topojani, however, signaled a goal which made the visiting players furious. There was a brawl that lasted for several minutes before the game was officially interrupted. Two visiting players and one of their fans attacked main referee Simeon Stefkov and his assistant. The game was later awarded as an automatic 3:0 win for Skopje.

Video of the supposed goal (at 9:48):

One of the two players who attacked the referee happened to be Marko Kostencovski, a player who was sent off in the 70th minute of that game. He was already livid at the referee, and then snapped after the questionable goal. Today, the football federation of Macedonia revealed that the 25-year-old central midfielder has been suspended for the next nine months.

Kostencovski’s suspension began immediately after Round 22, so he will be cleared to return on January 20 of 2016, meaning that he will miss the conclusion of this season and the entire first half next season. The ban applies to all domestic competitions.

The other player involved in the attack of the referees was his teammate Sashko Ristov. He was suspended for three league or cup games. Furthermore, since a Gorno Lisiche fan entered the field and punched the main referee, the club was fined 2.500 Euros and will have to play seven home games without the presence of fans. For bad organization, Skopje received a fine of 500 Euros and will play two games behind closed doors.

When it comes to the other discipline, Sashko Pandev received his third suspension of the season. This time, he will miss five league or cup games due to spitting and physically attacking the main referee after the latter showed him a red card in the Round 30 game of the First League between his Turnovo and Teteks.