(Image Courtesy: Hindustan Times)

The East Bengal infested city of Siliguri saw a goalless end to the derby, with both teams actually playing seasoned and well thought out football and perhaps even better referring.

The build up to the derby was tense. East Bengal have always had the infamous knack of getting undue advantages from the referee & match officials in the past, sins unpunished, clock hands stretched and what not !

Hence, Bagan fans were prepared for the worst when to came to match refereeing, but were pleasantly surprised to see referee Srikrishna keep a good leash on the game. So kudos to the ref for that. Of course, Mehtab, Dika et al were up to their usual impish antics, but thats what they do best.

The match started off well, each team putting the other to a good test and battled for midfield supremacy. On one hand Sony Norde was kept on tight leash on the left flank, with a double marking at times, and got no space whatsoever for his down the flank runs. He of course showed his class off a few corners and passes, but today wasnt his day. On the other hand, the Bagan defensive trio of Anas, Edu & Subhashis did a great job of keeping Wedson & Plaza at bay. Tackles met tackles and tactics crossed paths.

Jeje had a sub par day at office, was perhaps struggling a bit with the uneven bounce of the Siliguri turf.The usually nimble footed Jeje seems to be losing his agility a little bit, which could be ominous signs for Indian football. Hope Jeje proves us wrong real soon !

Duffy was energetic and quite enterprising, tried a couple of solo runs but none of the moves were clinical. He dropped down to a more withdrawn role, ran up front when needed.

The first half was primarily dominated by Mohun Bagan (East Bengal did have 2 shots at goal, but were easily fended by Debjit). Bagan went really close to taking the lead on a couple occasions, especially off a corner, but EB custodian Rehnesh did an excellent job of keeping the scoreline intact. He was indeed the man of the match.

This league has seen EB start the 2nd half with a burst of energy, and Bagan did well to slow down the pace of the game at the start of the 2nd half. EB did have a few good moves, but none that really challenged the Bagan keeper Debjit, except for one occasion where Wedson had a clear shot at goal with only Debjit in front of him.

The Bagan front line lacked lustre and coach Sanjay Sen would have done well had he been a bit more courageous and brought in Balwant earlier in the game in place of Jeje. Balwant came in only in the 75th min,  and was starting to look dangerous before time ran out.

Sanjay did show a bold tactical move in bringing in Prabir Das on the right flank in place of an off color Sony and switching Katsumi to the right. This did bring in a burst of speed on both flanks.. but again, time was of essence.

Overall, it was a good game by both sides, and perhaps the score line was just reflection of the game today.

Bagan stay 2nd in the league table, with EB at top equal on points, but with better goal difference

 

Mohun Bagan wins the away game against Colombo FC without any difficulty. Bagan,without the service of key players, played well. Colombo FC kicked off the ball.

Bagan got the first chance in the 5th minute but Prabir cross was foiled and Bagan got a corner. Yusa corner got Souvik Ghosh whose cross went to Kean and Duffy but they failed to score from 4 yards.

Bagan almost conceded a goal as a Colombo weak shot got past Shilton, but fortunately there were no Colombo players to convert the opportunity into a goal.

Soon Bagan scores. Duffy got hold of a ball in Bagan midfield region in 16th minute, he moved from right flank while Prabir moved into Colombo box. Duffy through found Prabir who lofted the ball towards far post and Kean made no mistake in converting that into a goal (1-0).

In the 27th Colombo almost scored from a corner but the ball went out.

Soon, Souvik tried to push a ball for Kean, the ball was intercepted by Colombo player, who gave it to their Nigerian midfielder in 30th minute , whose solo run had beaten Bikramjit junior, and his shot towards far post expectedly beaten Shilton (1-1). Yes Debjit was rested.

In 36th minute Kean was injured. He was later substituted by Jeje.

Both the teams got few opportunities. In the 68th minute Bikramjit had unnecessary foul and good booking.

In68th minute, Yusa was fouled, Sehnaz took the freekick – ball was cleared but then Bagan kept pressing hard and then Sehnaz got a ball when Colombo defence tried to save an Anas attempt. Sehnaz power shot made it 2-1.

The teams will face again in Kolkata on 7th February.

(Image Courtesy: Hindustan Times)

Mohun Bagan managed to secure three points today after they defeated Chennai City FC by 2-1. Jeje and Sony scored for Mohun Bagan today.
However, Bagan did miss Anas’sservice today. Edoardo’s weaknesses were exposed as he failed to manage Marcos. Marcos almost scored twice in the first half, and actually scored past Edu in the second half. Edu was found crawling in a failed attempt to stop Marcos.

Three players had positive runs for Bagan today, Sony, Shubhasish and Debjit. Pronay and Pritam still managed to create some opportunities, but Souvik and Yusa were way off the match. Sony missed a penalty today, and a Jeje goal was cancelled as the assistant referee felt he was offside. Howevwr Sony helped Jeje scored the equaliser, and later scored the winning goal on individual attempt. Prabir , who came as a sub , failed to score from 4 yards. Bagan missed many more opportunity to score.

Coach keeps on saying that he needs performers to.make it to the playing XI, it will be interesting to see how he uses Yusa, who performed well three years back.