Sunil Chettry’s power header at the 87th minute proved enough to settle four-goal lead in Mohun Bagan’s favour. Hudson Lima took the corner – found Sunil at 10 yards and a brilliant power header found the ball into the net. What a come back by the boys after they were routed in the last match by Dempo!

First credit should be given to the official who,  was alleged stating demotivating statements in a recent Executive Committee meeting – flew into Pune to motivate the team. Debasish Dutta did the right thing by standing tall with the team. Next – it was the turn of the coaching staff by fielding the right combination.

Sangram conceded 5 goals in the last game – but the team’s coaching staff kept faith upon him and he was there in the playing XI.

Dhanarajan was replaced by Kingshuk in the right back position. Sourav and Masih were the two central backs and Nabi was replaced by Daljit in the left back position. And for the first time in the season Bagan defense looked very compact.

Nabi was rather asked to operate from the right wing and Lima was brought back to the let wing- and both of them did justice to his move. Both were excellent and operated very well from the two wings.

Manish and Jewel were the two central midfielders-  and they were seen playing box to box – as a result they were the additional defensive screen – and that helped the defense a lot.  At times 8 players were defending and in the next moment 6 players were attacking – a brilliant show ineed.

Sunil and Ashim were continuously shuffling their positions.  As a result more opportunities were getting created and Mumbai boys were at lost to cover them.

There were no changes- and these players played for the full time – and were running till the last minute – this indicated that they have the endurance now – and with players like Barreto, Odafa, Surkumar, Pradeep< Anwar sitting out definitely there is some hope if they can maintain this performance.

The goals –

1. 22nd minute – Lima cross from 30 yards) towards the far post – Nabi header makes it 1-0

2. 30th minute – Lima fouled on the edge of the box. Sunil takes a direct free kick to the second post – the ball goes past the wall and the bats the goalie

3. 59th minute – Nabi cross into the box – foiled by Mumbai goalie – Ashim side volley went goes past the goal line

4. 75th minute – Sunil tries to score in the box – defended by Mumbai defense – ball went to Jewel in the D – Jewel power shot made it 4-0

5. 87th minute – Lima takes the corner – Sunil flies into the air and his power header makes it 5-0

6. In the dying moment – Sangram makes an unnecessary foul – gets a booking and concedes a goal from a penalty

Team : Sangram, Kingshuk, Sourav, Rakesh, Daljit, Nabi, Jewel, Manish, Lima, Ashim, Sunil

Once upon a time … a stock phrase that was used to describe Bagan’s success in Indian Football since 1911! The history of Bagan, the glorious past reminded people the matches Bagan played – and won! But that’s all past. It’s history. Bagan was ravaged 0-5 by Dempo in the third round of iLeague today.
At present Bagan – with an absolutely imbalanced side – is struggling to be there somewhere in the middle of the iLeague – and with the current team , some said it’s of Rupees 13 Crore ( thats Rupees 130 million) had to field three strikers, two side halfs (by their nature of the play) and five defenders against the most formidable side of the nation today. 10 years back Bagan still was the power house of Indian football – and now the Power has shifted to Dempo – and even coaches of some minnows mark Bagan as just an average team!

It all is happening because of poor reading / understanding of those who select the team. UB Group had given Bagan officials chances to make the team – year after year. Yet officials have made grave mistakes in selecting or shedding off the players. Look at Dempo – for years they have most of the players playing together – while Bagan has new faces every year. The set team would be dismantled and new players would be joining the team and playing with each other for the first time – that’s the kind of professionalism we have seen from Bagan officials for one decade!

Look at the successful players of the nation today –  Salgaokar won back to back two tournaments – iLeague and Federation cup – and if you look at the  players’ list and the coaching staff – 2 years back half of them were playing for Bagan!

The key midfielders of the other teams – Mehtab Hussain (East Bengal), Lalram Luaha (Shillong Lajong), Lukram James Singh , Lalkamal Bhowmik, Sankar Oraon (Prayag) , Jerry Zirsangha (Churchill Brothers) , Tomba Singh, Ryuji Sueoka (Salgaokar) used to play for Bagan – but were never retained!

The key defenders – Gourmangi Singh, D Ravanan (Churchill Brothers), Rahul Kumar , Biswajit Saha (Salgaokar), Deepak Mandal (Prayag) played for Bagan as well.

And how can you forget Edeh Chidi – the player had to leave Bagan with tears in his eyes – one who wanted to play for Bagan – but got sacked in spite of being a very consistent player.

And look at the team that was fielded today (playing XI)-

Sangram , Dhanarajan, Kingshuk, Anwar, Nabi, Jewel, Masih, Satish, Ashim, Sunil, Jagtar – 5 of them are defenders, 2 right wingers by nature, 3 strikers by nature. This means the so-called "balanced team that can win iLeague" – lacks a central defensive midfielder, a central attacking midfielder and a proper left half. We must remember that the TD decided not to sign in Simon Storey and not to field Hurdon Lima!

God save Bagan in the rest of the matches!