Kolkata : Defending champions Mohun Bagan perfectly warmed up for the derby with a convincing 4-2 win over Salgaocar FC in the second round match at the Barasat Stadium. Katsumi Yusa (9′), Cornell Glen (28′), Luciano Sobrosa (33′) and Balwant Singh (48′) scored for the defending champions while Darryl Duffy (69′) and Gurjinder Kumar (86′) reduced the margin for the Goan outfit .
Luciano Sabrosa had an impressive debut for the Mariners , as the Brazilian was declared hero of the match .
Sanjoy Sen started with the Brazilian and midfielder Pranoy Halder while Debjit Majumder replaced Shilton Paul under the bar.
The home side started the match on a positive note. Katsumi struck early in the 9th minute. Karanjit failed to gather a Dhanachandra Singh corner and Katsumi headed in to give the home side the lead.
Daryl Duffy missed a golden opportunity for the Goan outfit to equalize in the 15th minute. Jackichand sent a good through ball to Duffy who past his marker but failed to get past Debjit Majumdar.
The Green and Maroon stretched their lead through Glen in the 28th minute of the match . The burly Trinidadian was brought down by Gurjinder in the box and the referee did not hesitate to award a penalty. The world cupper made no mistake to put his side 2-0 up .
Mohun Bagan started to press hard looking for a third goal. Brazilian Luciano Sabrosa headed in from a Katsumi Yusa corner. Mohun Bagan went into the break with a three goal lead.
Mohun bagan scored their fourth goal soon after the breather . Balwant headed in a curling cross from Yusa Katsumi to make it 4-0. Salgaocar defence was left stranded .
Daryl Duffey pulled a goal back for the visitors. He tapped in a Jackichand Singh cross in the 69th minutes. The Scot chipped the ball over Debjit Majumder , seeing the Bagan custodian coming forward .
Mohun Bagan defence was once again rocked by a Gurjinder Kumar strike. Gurjinder got the ball from a corner and shoot the ball past Bagan goalkeeper .
The first half was totally dominated by Mohun Bagan but Salgaocar fought back well in the second half . Bagan defence in the second half will leave coach Sanjoy Sen concerned before the much anticipated derby against arch rivals East Bengal on January 23 at the Salt Lake Stadium .
Mohun Bagan went on the top of the I League table with six points from two matches .
Bagan coach Sanjay Sen looked concerned with his defence ahead of Derby ,I’m disappointed with the way we conceded two goals. I wanted to return with a clean slate, besides full points from this match. But there has been a lot of improvements from our opening game against Aizawl FC. We showed a lot of control in the midfield… But we need to maintain the control over 90 minutes.”
The win against Salgaocar will certainly give them confidence ahead of derby , feels Sanjay ,“Any win gives you confidence… But if you lose the Derby then it will be of no value. We need to be cautious… There’s no doubt that we will play to win versus East Bengal.
The Bagan coach also emphasised on the missed chances ,“We did miss a lot of easy chances… But this happens in football. It can happen… I’m not reading much into it.”
Bagan coach expressed his satisfaction with the fitness of Luciano . “ Luciano knows Indian football very well… I’m happy with his showing. But he should have been careful and not incurred the referee’s wrath (yellow card)… We are trying to work out a combination between Luciano and Jeje.