Mohun Bagan is going to play their 24th match of the I-League 2011-12 tomorrow against Shillong Lajong FC at the YBK. The kick-off is going to be 3:30 pm. After losing 6 points in the last three matches, our I League hopes are almost buried. The expectation of the millions of supporters around the globe from Mohun Bagan is to play some good football in the remaining four matches and salvage some pride by finishing among the top four team in the overall standings.

 We would love to see the men in green and maroon to play their hearts out tomorrow to prove that whatever has happened in this season was a mere unfortunate journey and they were actually capable to achieve more.

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