Mohun Bagan wins the second game of the iLeague after Darryl Duffy scored one goal each in each half to become Hero of the Match. Duffy’s goals were apt and showed his attitude within the box. He also played well on the right side and made quite a few moves.

Bagan had a new defense today and Souvik Ghosh came back to starting XI after a long gap. However Kingshuk and Anas did well to ensure Lajong does not find goals. Debjit also saved two goals. Pritam did well to overlap and come down and defend.

Sehnaz led the midfield well, Souvik also made the midfield compact , but he missed few opportunities. Raynier played for Bagan for the first time and was quite impressive.

Balwant and Duffy created some panic in the box, and for the second goal Duffy scored when Balwant was blocked.

However, Yusa still has opportunities of improvements.

However, Rowan continues to show the worth of Indian referees. Duffy once was fouled inside the box, which any “good and able” referee will mark as a penalty, but Rowan gave foul against Duffy. Once a clear throw in was given against Bagan. Yusa and Duffy were fouled many times and Rowan ignored.

The only decision where Rowan was right was perhaps booking Pronay after Pronay fouled a Lajong player unnecessarily.

Rowan , like most other Indian referees was filled with lots of errors, however it was not sure if the errors were intentional or Rowan was really not a quality referee, like most other Indian referees.

Government of India’s demonetisation drive has no impact on Indian refereeing. This was seen in the first iLeague game in Barasat stadium when referee denied Aizawl FC clear penalty and even did not warn a player after he hit Aizawl player after scoring an equalizer.

Indian refereeing  remain unchanged in the second iLEague game in Barasat stadium. Duffy fouled on the edge of the box- no foul; Yusa in scoring position – given offside, Subhashish got marching order for a foul not even worth a booking… the saga continues.

However referee failed to stop Bagan from securing vital 3 points. Bagan won 1-0. Balwant scored the all important goal, and Indian football’s farce saw a Churchill Brothers player getting a player of the match award.

Bagan could have increased the margin but Duffy, Yusa and Souvik missed from 6 yards each. However Kingshuk and Pritam’s understanding needs to be improved.

Players who stole hearts of the spectators include Souvik, Anas, Prabir Das.

Yusa, Kean , Sehnaj played well, however will have to improve in future. Duffy played as withdrawal forward and needs to improve as well. It was a pleasure to see Balwant back in action.

Overall a good match inspite of extremely poor refereeing.

Mohun Bagan is all set to kick off their iLeague venture for the current season. The venue has been changed to Barasat Stadium. The match starts on 8th January 2017 at 7 pm IST.