Mohun Bagan’s bench for the 13th match against Pune FC did not have a stopper and did not have a striker in the reserve bench. Undoubtedly the squad that went to Pune was not the best one. however that wasn’t enough – a hapless defense ensured Bagan concede two goals – the first one by Jeje thanks to Sangram and Anwar – and second by Lester thanks to Pradeep. The score card will say Pune FC 2-1 Mohun Bagan. What it will not say is that Odafa Okolie failed to get even one proper through and did not get any support from the central midfield and right flank! The only support he got to an extend was from Hudson Lima.

The performance was disappointing no doubt- but it raised a concern – with East Bengal match being the next one in the season – is Bagan defense ready to meet them? It has been matches where Kingshuk and Anwar played together with Sangram behind them – and till now Anwar and Sangram have no idea about which ball to cover and which one to leave for others to cover.

In one such case Lester crossed the ball to near post from left – and Jeje headed the ball past sangram into the goal. First Sangram was not in the right position – second he failed to step out and clear the ball  – third he felt Anwar will clear the same. For Anwar he gave a judgement – and left the ball for Sangram ot clear – end result Jeje had no problem in scoring the equaliser.

The second goal for Pune happened from the right when Douhou through found Kaite – and his cross to the far post found Lester who got past Pradeep and shot the ball into the net to make it 2-1 for Pune.

There were at least 3 more occasions when Pune failed to increase the margin – and twice it was open goal miss!

Odafa scored the lone goal for Bagan and the defense failed to defend it just because the defenders had no clue about each other’s position.

Pune was undoubtedly the better of the two teams – and the scoreline was justified.

Bagan will now meet East Bengal – and East Bengal coach can be very happy to see the shape of the Bagan defense. One wonders if the inclusion of the man Bagan trusts most can change this hapless team to a winning one? Yes – Jose Barreto was badly missed in this game today!

Mohun Bagan defeated East Bengal in the final of J.C. Mukherjee T-20 Trophy today by 5 wickets. East Bengal scored 160/9. Bagan’s Laxmi Ratan Shukla(46) and Anustup Majumder(67) partnered to win for Bagan. Debabrata and Sanjib did the rest of the work. Saurasish (16/6) was the best bowler for Bagan. Earlier Mohun Bagan beat Town in the semifinal at Jadavpur University ground. Mohun Bagan scored 187/3 (20 overs) by the help of 84 runs in 51 balls of Anustup Majumdar. Abhishek Jhunjhunwala and Laxmi Ratan Shukla have both scored 33. In the reply Town only managed to score 110 in 16.5 overs. Sultan Ahmed and Shibsagar Singh of Mohun Bagan have picked up 5 & 4 wickets respectively.

Mohun Bagan were held to a 2-2 draw by George Telegraph at mohun Bagan ground leaving last season’s runners-up battling with Mohammedan Sporting for the Runners Up position this year. Bagan is virtually out of the championship. Bagan is now having 11 points from 6 matches, and is currently in second position with a 7 point difference from the league topper. Mohammedan Sporting is having 11 points from 6 matches – but Bagan has a better goal difference- the only reason to keep them in the second spot.

Goals from Jewel Raja and Manish Bhargav (U-19) gave Bagan 2-0 lead in the first half. Add to it – shiladitya of George got a marching order in the 25th minute but they were soon level when Emeka Michael scored twice in the second half. First  one due to poor clearance by Daniel Zeleny and the second one due to handball of Mohanraj.

The only good outcome for bagan in this game was Manish Bhargav – a promising youngstar with a good prospect.

Mohun Bagan: Shilton, Dhanarajan, Zeleni (Anwar), Kingshuk (Pradeep), Mohonraj, Manish Bhargav, Masih, Jewel, Nabi, Ashim, Jagtar (Sakhatar).

Yellow Card: Kingshuk