The round 10 match of I League between Mohun Bagan vs Sporting Clube de Goa ended in a draw held at Yuba Bharati Krirangan. Rahim Nabi the only goal scorer for the host in the 72nd minute of the match while six minutes later Kalu Ogba scored via penalty to level the score for Sporting de Goa.

The match saw not a very high quality football, while Mariners played well in the first twenty minutes of the match. But after that SCG made comeback into the match with good ball control in the midfield as well as failure of defensive players of Bagan.

Today Bagan TD kept single striker as Odafa because Barreto, Sunil, Ashim all are unfit. In the 12th minute of second half  Manish was replaced by Dhanrajan and Nabi changed his position to forward. Just before that N. P. Pradeep was cautioned by the referee and will miss next match.

In the 72nd minute from a counter attack Nabi scored the goal for Bagan but very soon around 78th minute  Bagan conceeded a goal via Penalty by Kalu Ogba, contributed by the hand ball of Kingshuk Debnath. Due to the handball he was shown yellow card and he will miss the next match against Salgaocar as well on 22nd December at Kolkata. However, Bagan players have to be careful about the yellow card shown by the referee. As many as six players are already cautioned in the I League matches once.

In the 74th minute Jewel’s head from a cross of Snehasis hit the post otherwise it could have been 2-0 in the favour of Bagan. But sheer bad luck for Bagan and Jewel as well as the fans of Mohun Bagan.

Nabi was adjudged as Man of the match. The home team’s supporters again left the stadium with deep breath and absolute frustration.

McDowell Mohun Bagan will play next against Salgaocar S.C.at Kolkata on Thursday, 22nd December. Kick-off time : 2pm.

Mohun Bagan: Sangram, Surkumar, Kingshuk, Anwar, Nabi, Manish (Dhanrajan), Jewel, Masih, Pradeep (Souvick), Snehasis, Odafa.

Yellow Card: Pradeep (Misses next match), Kingshuk (Misses next match).

The Bharat Ratna category has been broadened by the government of India and excellence in all fields of human endeavour is the new eligibility norm after the Prime Minister’s Office has accepted the Ministry of Home Affairs’ recommendation of broad basing the Bharat Ratna category. It can be greats like Dhyan Chand who in his capacity helped Indian hockey team become world’s number one, it can be Sachin Tendulkar. But why not the immortal XI? This is an appeal to the Prime Minister of India – let the Immortal XI who won the IFA Shield for Mohun Bagan 100 years ago be the first one (as a team) to be awarded the Bharat Ratna (Posthumous)

Mohun Bagan beat HAL by 4-2 at Bangalore in a round 9 match of I League. In the 94th minute Arindam Das, a Member of Mohun Bagan sends a text message to his Mohun Bagan brethren – “Thy name is Mohun Bagan” – he was a relieved man after Manish scored the 4th goal for Bagan. 4 goals scored none conceded in the second half and the scoreline says 4-2!

The scoreline says Bagan conceded 2 goals in the first half , came back into the match and scored 4 vital goals in the second half. The score line says don’t conjure up traumatic memories from the last three games that were – LOSS-DRAW-LOSS! What is says is it is time the TD must have a tactical review.

With Dhanarajan, Masih (or even Zeleny) and Anwar – there is a triangle – which is the weakest part of the Bagan defense. These players must go back and learn the basic football sense once again. They are becoming costly to the team – conceding goals after goals from this zone. The TD won’t depend upon Daljit – but Daljit can be a better player than Dhanarajan – and Nabi can be a good choice – but having Nabi in the left back position means we are compromising on the right wing.

The scorecard won’t say this can be treated as a comeback match for Snehasish and of course Pradeep.  What it won’t say is how Bagan players were falling in offside trap laid by HAL (one can recall the same thing that happened the last time these two teams met)

It will not say the kind of game played by Metti, RC Prakash and Hamza – they know the weakest point of Bagan and they  know Anwar and Kingshuk are not yet set to be stoppers – they utilized the opportunities. In one such case in the 25th minute RC Prakash, the ex-Bagan veteran got into Bagan’s left back position and crossed the ball for Metti who got past Anwar and Kingshuk and headed the ball into the goal (0-1).

In the 31st minute Sangram’s great (in)famous sense of stepping out helped Hamza scoring the second goal for HAL. Hamza noticed Sangram was stepping out for the ball – which was not required, and he made no mistake in placing the ball past Sangram (0-2)

By that time Dhanarajan was already replaced by Pradeep, and Nabi moved into the left back position. One fault was repaired by the Coaching staff!

Rest of the first half saw Bagan’s relentless movements and HAL’s defense. Rakesh Masih’s miss passes were adding masala to the same. Odafa tried to score by was falling short of the mark.

The first 15 mins of the second half saw miss passes and some counter attacks by HAL. In the 60th minute Snehasish crossed the ball for Odafa and Odafa header reduced the margin (1-2).

The coaching staff made the second change immediately after the goal by bringing in Manish in lieu of Barreto who was totally off colour today missing some very easy opportunities.

Odafa scored his second in the 69th minute when Snehasish took a corner and the ball went to Odafa via Jewel’s header. Odafa’s backheader helped Bagan in equaling the scoreline (2-2)

The only major incident that happened between the two goals was Masih’s booking for an unnecessary foul. HAL tried to increase the lead – but Kingshuk , Sangram, Surkumar played pretty well.

In the 74th minute Pradeep got a booking as well.

Rakesh was replaced by Souvik in the 86th minute. In the 89th minute Jewel scored the third. It was Snehasish – Nabi –  Odafa – Jewel – this time Odafa the middleman – and Jewel right footer kissed the net( 3-2)

In the 94h minute Manish left footer outside the box and the ball got past the goalie (4-2)

 

This win helps Bagan move into the 3rd spot of the table now.                                                              

Mohun Bagan: Sangram, Surkumar, Kingshuk, Anwar, Dhanrajan (Pradeep), Nabi, Jewel, Masih (Souvick), Snehasis, Barreto (Manish), Odafa.

Yellow Card: Masih, Pradeep