Bagan share points in a 1-1 draw with Air India in an avid display of squandered chances. Mohun Bagan began the match on a right note and intent as they opened the Air India goal mouth on numerous occasions right from the start go.
Ishfaq Ahmed played his heart out, spearheading innumerable forays into the heart of Bimal Ghosh’s defense line. But the Mariners failed to do what mattered most – to wrest initiative !

Lalkamal Bhoumik who featured in the starting XI looked good after a long time. He did take confident strides and issued good looking long passes, which either resulted in Lalampuia narrowly missing the mark or in a missed Barreto effort ! 

But it was Air India who went 1 up during the lime break. The goal was the costly effect of a defensive lapse which could have been saved by Shilton Paul, who, otherwise was quite effervescent under the cross bar.

Branco Cardozo came on in during the 2nd half and managed to salvage some pride for the Mariners as he netted in the equaliser from a PC Lalampuia pass.

Apart from this the story rounded up as the Bagan efforts kept on missing the target or found its target in the hands of the Air India custodian.The end result – Bagan lost 5 out of 6 points in their first 2 matches. Another I-League and another saga of lost points !

 Photos: Saurav Mitra