Kolkata: The moment everyone thought that he came, he saw, he conquered, when Haitian superstar Sony Norde made a heroic return to Indian football with a classic finish after coming as a substitute, it had been cancelled out by a sublime free kick from former East Bengal midfielder David Lalrinmuana, as his sensational strike helped Aizawl FC to salvage a vital point against Mohun Bagan in the I-League clash at the Salt Lake Stadium on Saturday.
It was the Highlanders, who took the lead in the 29th minute, as Albert had acres of space and, passed Mapuia and the young forward swivelled to take aim from around 25 yards out. Sankar Roy had no chance of stopping the ball in which he did not anticipate in the first place.
The Green and Maroon brigade crawled back into the game in the 43rd minute, when Pintu Mahata delivered the flag-kick in for Dipanda but he was closely marked. The ball rolled towards Kimkima and the centreback came off with a delectable finish off his left foot, slotting the ball into his former team’s net.
In came the maestro in the 60th minute in rousing reception by the fans to replace Omar Nabil. The Haitian weaved his magic within minutes. Sourav played it long and wide for the 29-year-old and he made his trademark stinging runs on the left to beat a horde of defenders and slammed the ball into the far corner of the net from the angle.
The moment everyone thought that Norde would make his comeback special with that classic goal, David Lalrinmuana had other ideas. From around 32 yards out, the former East Bengal midfielder and Mohun Bagan academy player curved the ball miraculously and the ball hit the upright and went into the net past Sankar Roy to make it 2-2.
The result won’t please the Bagan think-tank as they now have two points from the two games they have played with consecutive draws.