Bagan scrapes past Agragami

By Our Special Correspondent

KOLKATA, MARCH 22. Tollygunge Agragami, true to its reputation of playing superbly against fancied rivals, stretched Mohun Bagan to the limit before falling to a 58th-minute goal by R.C. Prakash in the National Football League at the Salt Lake Stadium here on Thursday.

Mohun Bagan, despite fielding the two top scorers of the NFL, Prakash (10 goals) and Jose Barreto (9), was totally dominated by Tollygunge's combination play in the first half before Basudev Mondal took charge of the midfield to bring about a sea change in the approach work in the latter half.

It was one of Mondal's through passes to Prakash that enabled Bagan gain the match clincher as the latter rifled his right- footer in. The win also helped Mohun Bagan log 28 points from 15 games as against Tollygunge's 14 from the same number of matches.

Young Sasti Duley was the pick of the Tollygunge players with his imaginative play in the attacking zone. Duley's flag-kick in the 34th minute spelt danger for Mohun Bagan as Emeka Achilefu's header rebounded off the upright. Tollygunge also came close to scoring in the injury time when Emeka's powerful header off a right wing cross from Reazul Mustafa just missed the target.

Mohun Bagan too had its chances but failed to increase the margin owing to poor play at the striking zone.

Tollygunge Agragami's left-back Parthasarathy Dey (right) clears the ball before Bagan striker Barretto can reach it in the National Football League match in Kolkata on Thursday.

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