Mohun Bagan Thrash Salgaocar To Continue Their Unbeaten Run

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Mohun Bagan remains at the top of the table. Image Source: File Pic

Kolkata: Mohun Bagan thrashed Salgaocar 3-1 to continue their unbeaten run in the I-league 2016. Goals from Jeje who is having a dream run from the ISL and a brace from Glen sealed the deal for the Mariners. It was by the end of the first half that Mohun Bagan was already leading by 3-0.

Mohun Bagan and Salgaocar both made four changes to their playing xi from their last game. Luciano Sabrosa and Pronay Halder were missing this game due to suspension. Sanjay Balmuchu came in for Luciano while Lenny Rodrigues did debut for Bagan In the I-league.

The game started off with Mohun Bagan dominating proceedings and nearly going ahead in the second minute, when Jeje’s through ball and the forward brushed the far post with a left footed attempt from a tight angle.

Mohunbagan broke through in the 13th minute when a Lenny Rodrigues shot from a Sony Norde’s cross was mis-palmed by Karanjit and Jeje netted from the rebound.

Majority of the football was being played in Salgaocar’s box with Jeje and Yusa Katsumi at the centre of every move. Salgaocar were already beginning to feel the frustration, which became evident through Martin Scott’s rash tackle on Katsumi, which saw his name being noted in the referee’s book with a yellow card.

Santosh Kashyap started the game with Alesh Sawant as one of the U22 players, but he resorted to substituting Sawant in the 20th minute with Jackichand Singh.

In the 30th minute, a corner kick taken by Sony Norde was cleared but found Katsumi 30 yards away from goal; the Bagan skipper decided to take a shot on goal himself but his attempt was deflected to Glenn who had the simplest of finishes to bring into effect. Not a single Salgaocar move saw a shot on target in a dismal first half for The Greens.

Cornell Glenn made it 3-0 to the Mariners in the added time of the first half, with an easy finish. The former Trinidad and Tobago World Cupper took the pass from Lenny Rodrigues and calmly strolled towards goal and against a back-tracking Reagan Singh to place the ball toward’s Karanjit Singh’s right.

At the end of the first-half, the score line was in favour of Bagan 3-0.

Mohun Bagan looked dominant right away after the start of the second half, as a neat through ball from Raju Gaikwad saw Jeje Lalpekhlua through on goal and time to take a shot on goal, but Jeje’s shot was inches  away from the crossbar with Karanjit beaten for pace.

The move to introduce Semboi Haokip in place of Gurjinder Kumar in the 58th minute helped Salgaocar move the ball much better and they started to look threatening for the first time in the game.

Salgaocar’s constant efforts to get back into the game paid dividends, as Darryl Duffy pulled one back in the 73rd minute as he headed a Jackichand Singh cross beyond Debjit Majumder to make it 3-1.

Few minutes later, Salgaocar’s evening became more embarrassing and terrible when Gilbert Olivera was shown the second yellow card and was given marching orders after a silly foul to Bikramjit Singh.

At the final whistle, the score line remained 3-1 in favour of Bagan.

Mohun Bagan are still leading the table with 21 points from 9 games 4 points ahead of second-placed arch-rivals East Bengal and are unbeaten too in the league while Salgaocar are struggling at the bottom of the table and on the verge of being relegated  as they are only 5 points from 9 games. Mohun Bagan is scheduled to play Sporting Clube de Goa next on March 1 at Goa.

Meanwhile, Mumbai FC held Sporting Clube de Goa 2-2 at Cooperage in Mumbai.  Sporting opened the scoring from a Mahmoud finish in the 7th minute of thew match. Mumbai FC got the equaliser few minutes later from a Ryuki Kozawa strike in the 18th minute. At the end of the first half, the score line remained 1-1. Jayesh Rane put Mumbai ahead in the 53 rd minute while Sporting again got the equalise r few minutes later from a terrific strike from a Victorino Fernanades. The match ended with the score line showing 2-2 and both the teams shared points.