A 3-0 victory against Railway Football Club brought sweet 3 points in Sahara CFL for Mariners. Muritala Ali opened the score card in the first half while Edeh Chidi scored a couple of brilliant goals in the second half and ensured a convincing win in the 6th match for the team Mohun Bagan. The win takes the Mariners at the top segment of the standing with 13 points in 6 matches.

Bagan coach Stanley Rozario opted for the same XI like previous match against George. Right from the begining, Mariners created immense pressure to the Railway Football Club’s defence. In the 22nd minute Surabuddin, the under-19 member of the squad, missed an open net. However, in the 32nd minute Muritala Ali scored an easy goal from a rebound of RFC’s goalkeeper.  From a corner of Snehasis, Kingshuk’s header was cleared by goalkeeper of RFC within the goal in the six yards box but Muritala Ali was there to score from this move in a open net (1-0).

Immediately after taking the lead, couple of attacks were initiated by Mohun Bagan players but none of those could change the score sheet. In the 42nd minute Muritala Ali scored from Edeh Chidi’s cross but referee gave it offside. At the end of first half it was 1-0 in favour of Bagan.

In the second half Bagan started with a bang while a lot of attacks were initiated but many of those went in vain as Mohun Bagan players found themselves trapped in off-side position most of the occasions.

In the 60th minute of the match, a solo effort made by Dhanrahan from the left flank as he crossed the ball to Barreto and Barreto passed the ball to Edeh Chidi by a brilliant flick in right foot and Chidi made no mistake to put the ball into the net by his right toe (2-0). What a brilliant attack and team effort that has been !!

In the 64th minute Muritala Ali got bit physical and was shown yellow card. This time uncountable attacks from Snehasis in the left flank destroyed the defensive policy of Railway FC. We have to mention the name of Snehais Chakraborty for his attacking game and brilliant effort in the field for his team. In the 71st minute Stanley Rozario brought Ashim Biswas in the place of Muritala Ali and 79th minute Satish Kumar came in the place of Jose Barreto. Chidi scored his second and team’s third goal in the 80th minute by a brilliant volley (3-0).

In the 82nd minute Snehasis was replaced by academy boy young Souvick Chakraborty. After that severe attack was made by Mariners but didn’t increase their number of goal. However Bagan finished the match in happy mode by winning the match 3-0. Snehasis Chakraborty was declared Man of the Match.

Team:

Mohun Bagan – Shilton, Kingshuk, Sagram, Dhanarajan, Karan, Jayanta, Snehasish (Souvick), Surabuddin, Barreto (Satish Kumar), Chidi(C), Muritala (Ashim).

 

Today’s Match – Fact Sheet At A Glance
Opponent team	Railway FC
Date	21-Oct-10
Venue	MB Ground, Kolkata
Kick off time	2:30 PM
No. of goal Mohun Bagan scored	3 [Chiddi(2), Muritala(1)]
Opponent scored	0
Number of yellow card shown to MB Players	1(Muritala)
Number of red cards shown to MB players	0
Average age of 1st 11	24.6 yrs
Average age of the squad (registered for Fed cup)	23.3 yrs
1st half Score	1 – 0
Style of formation	4-3-3
Substitutions
1	Ashim in place of Muritala(71mt)
2	Satish Kr in place of Barreto(79mt)
3	Souvik in place of Snehasis(82mt)

 Picture Courtesy : Bartaman

If there were nagging doubts in the Mohun Bagan dressing room that we can win the Premier League this season, they were firmly banished by the 7-0 win against George Telegraph.

The Nigerian Edeh Chidi’s 4 goals of the match – that lead to completion of 150 goals in India proved to be the winner that sent his side back to the run for the top of the table as Bagan won 7-0 over George Telegraph. Subair Muritala ali scored the remaining three goals.One can’t remember when was the last time in Premier Division football two hattricks took place in the same game.

Being second in the Federation Cup is not nice, particularly when the referee cancelled two clean goals, but when Mariners are playing in this Premier league with so many games, the fans saw that the players were fresh and this is important.

A full fortnight to prepare and rest ahead of monday’s match  was a help but it was not a smooth build-up for Chidi who had fitness issues from the beginning of the season. However he started scoring from the very 1st minute and he alone scored the goals at 1st, 5th, 45th and 71st minute.
Chidi, with the Captain’s arm band today,  believes Premier League excursions could be seen in the title holder’s start to the game.

Muritala Ali assisted him well with goals scored in 47th , 53rd and 77th minute.
Snehasish (replaced by Satish in 69th minute), Jayanta and Barreto (replaced by Diamondstar in 55th minute) controlled the midfield. Even young Surabuddin (replaced by David in 73rd minute) supported the team in various occasions.

Chidi was elected as the Man of the Match.

Meanwhile the derby between Mohun Bagan and Mohammedan Sporting scheduled on Sunday, 24th October, will be postponed, Bagan will play against Eastern Rail on that day at Mohun Bagan Ground from 2.30 pm.

Team:

Mohun Bagan – Shilton, Kingshuk, Sagram, Dhanarajan, Karan, Jayanta, Snehasish( Satish Kumar 71′), Surabuddin(Davic 74′), Chidi(C), Muritala, Barreto (Diamondstar 56′).

Today’s Match – Fact Sheet At A Glance
Opponent team	George Telegraph
Date	19-Oct-10
Venue	MB Ground, Kolkata
Kick off time	2:30 PM
No. of goal Mohun Bagan scored	7 [Chiddi(4), Muritala(3)]
Opponent scored	0
Number of yellow card shown to MB Players	1(Chiddi)
Number of red cards shown to MB players	0
Average age of 1st 11	24.6 yrs
Average age of the squad (registered for Fed cup)	23.3 yrs
1st half Score	3 – 0
Style of formation
Substitution
1	Diamondstar in place of Barreto(55mt)
2	Satish Kr in place of Snehasis(69mt)
3	David in place of Surabuddin(73mt)

Picture Courtesy : Bartaman

Mariners will resume their unfinished CFL 2010-11 campaigns tomorrow after a month long break due to Federation Cup and Durga Puja vacation. And needless to say that they have a task on-hand. Till now, the CFL campaign for the last two consecutive years’ champion has been anything but impressive. With 2 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat in the opening encounters, Mariners are expected coming back with a bang. Though the nightmare of 2nd Oct would still continue to haunt us some more time, it’s time for the Team to continue the momentum and tempo displayed during the Fed Cup.
Mohun Bagan will start their post Puja campaign in fresh and hopefully with all the squad members fit.

However, the team management needs to do serious introspection on certain aspects while deciding upon the team strategy –

1. 5 CFL matches for the Mariners in 11 days (between 19-Oct-2010 and 30-Oct-2010) – Physical fitness will be a big challenge for any team in this situation. The key is to make suitable rotation amongst the squad members. Going by the first four CFL encounters of this season, only 3 players (Sangram, Kingsuk Debnath and Surabuddin) have got all the four matches full times whereas 11 players (out of 30) in the squads, who have been registered for CFL 2010-11, have not yet been utilized in any of the CFL encounters so far. We might expect a lot of flexibility on rotation front from the think tanks.
2. I-League campaign will start only on 27-Nov-2010 – Hence we have some time to experiment with the various formations and combinations so as to get all the right plans in place before i-League kicks off. And CFL matches are ideal for these kinds of experiments. However, the huge fan pressures with sky high expectation would always put the team management on a tight rope. And that is always tagged to the brand ‘Mohun Bagan’. Living up to the expectation with all sorts of experiments is the name of the game!!
3. All out attack vs Sicilian defense – The team have scored 2.5 goals per match (on average) in the first four encounters of this year’s CFL whereas the opponents have been able to score 1 goal per match (on average). Despite the facts that it’s still very early into the league campaign and big matches have still to come, our defense is, by no means, anywhere comparable to formidable Sicilian defense. However, the big positive factor could be the resilience and determination shown by our defenders during the Fed Cup campaign where our defense only conceded 3 goals in 5 matches.
4. Card offence and fair play – This might look trivial but plays a crucial role in crunch outings. The story could have been different if Gauranga Dutta, who was outstanding in previous matches, wouldn’t miss the final because of 2 yellow card offences. 4 players (Muritala, Kingsuk, Surabuddin and Sk. Azim) of the squad have been cautioned once by the match referee in as many CFL encounters till now. We have to more careful in forthcoming encounters on this dimension.
   
   

Here we go then. For the fans of Mohun Bagan, all the above mentioned tactics, facts and figures do matter a lot. However, just 3 points in each and every CFL encounter from tomorrow onwards can set aside all the statistical jugglery, and that is what matters most to the entire die hard Mohun Bagan fans across the globe.

So seat back, relax, keep your fingers crossed and expect the big guns of Mariners roar again!!