Another CFL encounter, another day of dominance, another hat trick by ace striker, Muritala Ali and another 3 points earned. That could be a good way to summarize today’s match against Mohammedan AC as the Mariners won the match 3 -1.

Today was the fourth post-puja encounter for Mariners in Sahara CFL 2010 and the resilient Mariners displayed their sheer dominance to earn 3 valuable points beating Mohammedan AC 3 – 1 at their home ground. The deadly trio, ‘Berreto-Chidi-Muritala’, were in-charge right from the beginning of the match and it was Muritala’s day today as he found the net on 11th minute as he finished the movement spearheaded  by Snehasis and Barreto (1 – 0). However, the initial lead didn’t sustain long as Saheed of Mohammedan AC took the advantage of defensive lapse and stunned the stadium with an equalizer on 18th minute (1 – 1). Since the resumption of post puja vacation encounters, Mariners defense were unbeaten till 288 minutes but a rare mistake from Karan Atwal might prove to be costly for the team on this occasion.

The unexpected equalizer provided much needed spark to the Mariners and the midfielders led by Barreto and Snehasis started to dominate. The whole hearted effort showed the result within a few minutes as Muritala trapped Chidi’s pass on his chest and scored his second goal on 25th minute of the match (2 – 1). And after that it is long saga of one sided affairs by the Mohun Bagan’s attacking force against the Mohammedan AC’s defense. However the score line didn’t change till the lemon break.
 
The Mariners started the second half with a determined effort to increase the goal margin. Coach Stanley allowed Chiddi some breather by replacing him with Souvik. It was a matter of time for the Mariners to crease the lead as they took complete control of the midfield. However, Mohammedan defenders made the Mariners wait till 65th minute when Muritala completed his hat trick from a brilliant move of Barreto (3- 1).
 
The team seems to get consolidated as the CFL progresses. However, sudden defensive lapse, poor conversion rates of numerous half chances, improvement on dead ball situation would continue to be the areas where Coach Stanley and his colleagues need to emphasize before the forthcoming derby and iLeague.
 
Team:
Mohun Bagan : Shilton, Kingshuk, Sagram, Karan, Biswajit, Jayanta, Snehasish(Asim), Surabuddin(David), Barreto, Chidi(Souvik), Muritala.

Fact sheet of today’s match

Opponent team Mohammedan AC
Date 27-Oct-10
Venue MB Ground, Kolkata
Kick off time 2:30 PM
No. of goal Mohun Bagan scored 3 (Muritala)
Opponent scored 1(Saheed)
Number of yellow card shown to MB Players 1(Snehasis)
Number of red cards shown to MB players 0
Average age of 1st XI 24 yrs
Average age of the squad (registered for Fed cup) 23.3 yrs
1st half Score  2 – 1
Style of formation  4-4-2
Substitutions
1 Souvik in place of Chiddi(46mt)
2 David in place of Surabuddin(85mt)
3 Ashim in place of Snehasis(85mt)

 Picture Courtesy : Bartaman

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