Mohun Bagan produced a scintillating display, sweeping Mahindra United off the pitch, reassuring them a place in the back to back final in the season. Should it be a repeat of IFA Shield final or a Trophy winning final against Churchill Brothers will be determined on Tuesday, September 22. Karim Bencharifa’s side were well on top after taking the lead through Chiddi Edeh’s superb strike in the first half. But Mahindra United were handed a lifeline soon after half-time when Bagan needlessly conceded a goal that Md. Rafi converted.
It got worse for Mahindra as Chiddi headed a James Singh corner-kick into Mahindra net eight minutes later to give Mohun Bagan their third win in a row.
Both the teams played open football today, created lots of opportunities and both the goalkeepers saved some brilliant shots. For Mahindra, it was Stephen Dias who was taking all the loads, while Jems Singh was at his best today. Each and every Jems shot found Jose Barreto, excepting for twice – first when his corner found Chiddi and then a direct freekick was saved by Subhasish.
Bagan will now play Churchill Borthers – second time in the season. Last time they played, Bagan went down 0-2. Bagan supporters surely hope that the elite Durand Trophy will now arrive at the club tent this year.
Teams:
Mohun Bagan AC
1-Sangram Mukherjee [C], 13-Irungbam Surkumar Singh, 4-Deepak Kumar Mondal, 20-Rakesh Masih, 27-Nallappan Mohanraj, 16-James Lukram Singh (90+4′ 19-Mashangva Genius Zenith), 26-Micky Fernandes, 8-Subho Kumar, 25-Snehashis Chakraborty (82′ 7-Santha Kumar), 10-Jose Marcio Ramirez Barreto (90+4′ 17Kulothungan), 9-Chidi Edeh
Unused Substitutes:
31-Shilton Pal, 12-Branco Vincent Cardozo, 28-Manish Mathani, 34-Sangram Mandi
Mahindra United
1-Subhashish Roy Chowdhury, 12-Denzil Franco, 14-Dharmaraj Ravanan, 6-Lamine Tamba, 25-Debabrata Roy, 23-Steven Benedic Dias, 2-Nadumparambil Pappachan Pradeep [C] (61′ 10-Svetozmar Mijin), 7-Sushanth Mathew, 20-Paresh Shivalkar (66′ 4-Krishnan Nair Ajayan), 28-Sushil Kumar Singh (82′ 15- Khangembam Thoi Singh), 11-Madambillath Mohammed Rafi
Unused Substitutes:
22-Subhodeep Mukherjee, 8-Bhola Prasad, 9-Surajit Bose, 18-Nisthar Kazih Alaudeen