Calcutta: For Mohun Bagan fans at the Salt Lake Stadium, the man of the day was Pritam Kotal. The full back managed to break the deadlock in the 77th minute, handing Pune FC their first defeat of this edition of the Hero I-League on Saturday.
With both the teams taking a defensive approach, few chances were created. But Mohun Bagan managed to capitalise on the one real opportunity that they got, and that made the difference at the end.
In defence, Bello Rasaq played a stellar role to foil any attempt by the visitors to shake Bagan’s citadel and that earned him the Man of the Match award.
The hosts finally broke the deadlock in the 77th minute. Balwant Singh, who replaced CS Sabeeth in the 69th minute, showed how important a fresh pair of legs can be. He essayed one to Sony Nordy on the left, who ran ahead unhindered and floated a cross into the box.
With the Pune FC defenders perhaps concentrating more on Nordy and Katsumi Yusa, Pritam saw his chance. He sneaked in past the sea of yellow shirts and headed in Nordy’s cross. Pune FC custodian Amrinder Singh had no chance to counter the effort and the handful of fans in the galleries erupted in joy.
It was as early as in the 18th minute that Mohun Bagan supporters thought their team had taken a lead, when Katsumi Yusa found the net. But it was rightly called an handball and the goal was disallowed.
Bagan did get a few more chances, but Yusa, Nordy and Jeje all failed to convert from free-kicks. Jeje’s shot from about 30 yards saw an alert Amrinder rising to the occasion and tipping it over the bar. Pune FC, too, got a chance in the first half itself, when Darko Nikac fooled a couple of defenders only to see his shot being deflected wide by Kingshuk Debnath. Soon, Edgar Marcelino dribbled past at least three home team players before he had to counter Bello.
The Nigerian proved too good for him, and he failed to find either Darko Nikac or Thongkhosiem Haokip inside the box.
Having pocketed three points from their match against Pune FC, Mohun Bagan coach Sanjoy Sen dismissed them as “paper tigers” and a “most ordinary team.”
Teams
Mohun Bagan: Debjit Majumdar, Shouvik Ghosh, Pritam Kotal, Kingshuk Debnath, Bello Rasaq, Bikramjit Singh (Manish Bhargav, 91), Katsumi Yusa, Denson Devadas, CS Sabeeth (Balwant Singh, 69), Sony Nordy, Jeje Lalpekhlua (Sehnaj Singh, 88).
Pune FC: Amrinder Singh, Luciano Sabrosa, Mathew Gonsalves, Yumnam Raju, Izumi Arata, Darko Nikac, Edgar Marcelino (Lalramlualia Hmar, 77), Ryuji Sueoka, Zohminguana Ralte, Dhanapal Ganesh (Nikhil Kadam, 82), T Haokip (Anthony De Souza, 46).
Referee: B Balasubramaniam
Man of the match: Bello Rasaq
