Luck favours Mohun Bagan

By Our Special Correspondent

KOLKATA, MARCH 26. Mohun Bagan was indeed lucky to come away with a solitary second-half goal win against a plucky Air India in the National Football League game at the Salt Lake Stadium here on Monday. The win lifted Mohun Bagan to 31 points from 16 matches, and it is now only at a striking distance away from arch rival and league leader East Bengal in points tally.

Air India, languishing in the relegation zone, badly needed three points to revive its chances of staying back in the NFL. And the Mumbai outfit did very well to keep the fancied Bagan at bay for major part of the game before a defensive lapse put paid to its aspiration.

It was to the credit of Air India that the game began in an entertaining fashion with moves and counter moves peppering the early minutes. The young and energetic airmen, contrary to expectation of playing for a draw, went for Mohun Bagan's jugular and almost got it.

After a unspectacular first half showing, Air India produced a blitz in the early second-half in which it clearly missed three sharp chances. Bagan took a while to recover from the raids. But once it got its bearings, Bagan kept the match firmly under control till the final whistle though inept handling of the match by referee P.K. Bose of Madhya Pradesh threatened to take the game out of control.

Bagan had a couple of clear chances in the first half which it wasted. After Flavio Lopez volleyed over a fine chance in the ninth minute Jose Barreto was booked for a foul on the goalkeeper. This was the second booking of the Brazilian and he will have to sit out the next game against JCT of Phagwara slated for Saturday.

The two teams indulged in eye catching pattern weaving passes but lacked the imagination and positional play to strike in the attacking zone. Bagan badly missed striker R.C. Prakash, currently attending the coaching camp at Bangalore. Barreto was heavily marked by Tapash Ghosh, rendering the striker less effective throughout the game. Bagan did suffer due to this and the Brazilian himself lost his cool many a time and indulged in violent conduct off the ball and behind the referee and still got away.

Bagan's best chance in the early half came in the 26th minute following an incisive through pass by Barreto to Lopez. The Lopez, on entering the penalty box failed to shoot promptly and allowed defender Osborn D'Souza to deflect the shot away for a flagkick.

Change of sides brought new rhythm in Air India's play as it strived to exploit the right wing. For almost ten minutes it attacked with verve to miss three chances. First Tomba Singh's spectacular solo from the midfield ended when he shot wide after well placed. This was followed by Arun Malhotra's firm header off a flag kick which the Bagan custodian Rajat Ghosh Dastidar collected well.

A fierce Ratan Singh centre found nippy winger Anthony Fernandez putting his head to the ball but though the rival defence was beaten neck and crop, the ball flew wide.

After Basudev Mondal, the lone medio of Bagan to shine in today's game, rifled a long ranger to bring the best out of Air India goalkeeper Israt Kamal diving full length to his right to save the situation, Air India launched a quick counter in which Fernandez and Ratan exchanged the ball deep inside the penalty box before Ratan shot wide.

With the Air India moving on the attacking mode, Bagan got a good counter in the 68th minute and it made the most of it. Mondal's forward through to Barreto saw the Brazilian deftly moving past a defender and chipping the ball right in front of substitute Amar Ganguly's head. The striker, unmarked and well placed, rammed the header home.

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Section  : Sport
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