Mohun Bagan successfully hold HAL 0-0. Bagan did not give HAL chance to score. Shilton was brilliant in saving goal. Rakesh Masih did well in stopping Hamza as well. Kingshuk was also good in not allowing HAL to score. Surkumar and Nabi ensured HAL does not operate from both flanks. Nabi also did not commit any handball today. Barreto also did well. He was found playing for full 90 minutes – a great feat indeed. Pradeep , Jewel, Odafa, Sunil were good in stopping HAL to operate from the middle third. Lima also did well – couple of his passes were actually to his team members. Ashim was also good – so good that he was taken out before the first half ended. The only exception was Manish Bhargav – the kid was the only one who did take shots on target at HAL goal.

Mohun Bagan failed to control the game till end against Dempo and ended with a 2-2 draw. Bagan is practically out of iLeague title race – and the decision to stay away from IFA Shield so that iLeague can be targeted – backfired. Key player – Odaf Okolie was injured against Dempo – and is nursing injury. Odafa would be out of the HAL game on friday, 6th April. This means – Bagan will have to focus more on sunil, Ashim and Barreto.

Bagan might have to add Manish Bhargav in the reserve bench – his absence was felt in last 20 mins of the game against Dempo. Bagan might also have Manish Maithani from the beginning. Hudson Lima can also be tested against this weak team.

HAL can have a formation of 1-4-3-2 with one stopper behind the four defenders and three midfielders with two strikers. Bagan can be of formation 4-4-2.

Probable teams:

HAL – Amar Deb, Chandandeep Singh, Ramesh, Gautam Debnath, Liliyan Kennath/Femi Joseph, Rohit Chand, Malemngamba Meetei, Ajit Kumar Singh, Bijoy Das/Sudheesh Muttath,  Jagaba Amaba, Vinod Kumar

Mohun Bagan –  Sangram, Nabi, Anwar, Kingshuk, Surkumar, Lima, Barreto, Manish, Jewel, Sunil, Ashim

Mohun Bagan split points with Dempo as the game ended 2-2. Credit goes to Subhasish Roy Choudhury of Dempo and Gujarat referee Vishu. Incidentally Dinesh Nair is also a referee from Gujarat! Subhasish did well to stop at least 4 goals of Odafa – while Referee did well to guard Dempo well. He did not award a penalty to Bagan – overlooked fouls and just booked Debabrata when he should have got a marching order.

Odafa could have scored 6 goals in the first half- but had to remain happy with only 2 goals. This includes a penalty shot missed by him. In the second half one of his shots was stopped by Mahesh Gowli’s hands – but referee overlooks the handball. In fact he overlooked the first penalty awarded – it was Assistant referee who insisted on the penalty and the referee and to buy it.

Ranty scored the frst goal for Dempo when Nabi handled the ball inside the box.

Later Odafa scored 2 goals and both were from his individual brilliance. In the secod half Koko scored a goal for Dempo due to mistakes by Bagan defence. 

Debabrata Roy was at his worst and had badly injured Jewel by hittin him twice. Debabrata is known for his indecent sportsmanship and today’s incidence was no different. He shoul have got a marching order and AIFF should have suspnded him for at least two matches. But referee was more interested in Dempo earning a point at least. Dempo perhaps would be ieague champion at the end of the season – and would represent India. But the teams represending India in AFC seem to be doing so by getting advantages from referees. No wonder Indi remains as a sleeping giant of World Football !