I-league: Bagan’s defensive errors shattered their title hopes

Juan Querro rejoicing after scoring his second goal. Image Source: Xtra Time
Juan Querro rejoicing after scoring his second goal. Image Source: Xtra Time

Barasat: Mohun Bagan received a huge blow in defending their title hopes after a 3-3 stalemate at Barasat against DSK Shivajians FC. Cornell Glen put the home side into the lead before Juan Quero scored a couple. Sony Norde marked his comeback with a goal while Glen added another before the end of the first half. Aser Dipanda once again played the role of a spoilsport, as he did against Bengaluru FC, by scoring the crucial equalize in the second half to split the points.

Mohun Bagan who began well in the I-league this season as their defense looked rock solid with the inclusion of Brazilian Luciano Sabrosa conceding 7 goals in the first 11 matches but they conceded as many as 9 goals in the last 4 matches. In the last 4 matches the Mariners lost 10 points which is the main reason for their failure in defending the championship.

Bagan started on the front foot and could have taken the lead in the very first minute. Glen got on the end of a long ball and lobbed into the box which was cleared by Jhingan but only as far as Katsumi Yusa. However, Sen Ralte was back in time to clear the danger.

Glen had another chance in the seventh minute but Haroon Amiri’s timely tackle saw the former fumble in front of goal and his eventual shot went wide. Bagan appealed for a penalty in the 21st minute when Glen was allegedly pulled down inside the box by Jhingan.

Five minutes later, the home side went ahead through Glen. Substitute Jeje’s shot from the edge of the box was parried by Subrata Paul before Glen slotted the ball in on the rebound. In the 28th minute Bagan should have been 2-0 ahead but for Subrata Paul’s brilliant save to deny Norde’s cracker of a shot from the left. Regarding this issue, bagan camp demanded that it was a goal. Sanjoy Sen commented,” If goal line technology was implemented in the I-league, there would not have been any controversy on any goals.”

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Bagan’s lead didn’t last long as Juan Quero was fed through the middle by Douhou Pierre and the Real Madrid youth academy product made no mistake in beating Debjit Majumder in goal.

DSK took the lead in the 34th minute as Quero ran down the left and his diagonal shot went into the net as Debjit Majumder failed to judge the ball. Norde turned on his trademark style a few minutes later as he eased past three defenders and his right footed effort was deposited into the left corner to make it 2-2.

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Glen completed his brace in the 45th minute as he got the better of Zohmingliana Ralte and Sandesh Jhingan to slot the ball home as Bagan lead 3-2 at half-time.

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In the 58th minute, Norde was substituted as he went down on the ground having pulled a muscle. Bagan took their feet off the pedal which allowed DSK to pull one back. Quero released substitute Israil Gurung on the right whose cross found Dipanda unmarked at the far post to head it into the net in the 75th minute to level the score 3-3.

At the post match press conference, Sanjoy Sen looked furious on his team’s defensive line. The Mariners coach said,” This team does not deserve to be champions as they cannot hold on to a 3 goal lead.” On asking Sanjoy, is luciano the correct replacement for Bello, who was instrumental for Bagan in their triumph last season,” Bello was an important member to our side last season. But I can’t cry on Bello. i have to fight with whatever resources I have.”

The 3-3 score-line saw Bagan extend their lead by a point to 27. However, Bengaluru FC and East Bengal, who are on 26 and 24 points respectively, have three games in hand as compared to Bagan’s one. Meanwhile, DSK extended their unbeaten run of form to seven matches.

Meanwhile, Mohun Bagan team is flying to Yangon tomorrow to play their AFC Cup tie. Sony Norde will not flying with the team as he suffered an injury in the same knee where he was previously injured. Norde, left the stadium with his girlfriend Kimberline in Shibaji Banerjee’s car.