Last time referee Pratap Singh and Saji Kurian ensure that a penalty is given against Bagan when the ball hit Surkumar. This was enough to take two points from Bagan. Today referee Costa went one step ahead and canceled a clean goal of Chidi Edeh to ensure Bagan loses two more points. This show, that was seen in Fed Cup final continues to entertain Indian Football referees fraternity.

It all started when Jose Barreto was pulled down near the Pune FC box – and referee gave foul against Barreto. This happened two more time when Barreto was hit from behind and fouls were awarded against him. At one time one thought a foul in PuneFC box was enough for awarding penalty against Bagan. Bagan was lucky tht referee Costa did not opt for the same.

Bagan suffered a setback mush before the game with no Ashim, Muritala, Manish, Souvik, Mohanraj in the list for various reasons. With practically no central midfielder – Bagan failed to control the central midfield.

But a rock solid defense made sure all Pune attacks were foiled. However Pune did test Bagan defense and once the ball hit the cross bar even.

Deepak was rightly adjudged as the Man of the Match.

Referee Pratap Singh awarded KEB a penalty in the 8th minute when the ball hit Surkumar’s hand. In many cases for last few seasons Mohun Bagan was deprived of penalties (if you recall the Fed Cup final – a similar handball incident happened) . And of course Saji Kurian was the Asst. Referee

That was the beginning. Soon al knew that they match officials were even worse than those in Fed Cup final this year – or those from CRA. One wonders hw these blokes get a chance to officiate a high tension match like the one today.

With one hundred thousand spectators around  ( 60-40 for Mohun Bagan) these matches should be conducted by best referees. Since there is no quality referee avaialble in India – AIFF  should think of bringing a referee from AFC.

Sanju Pradhan scored when referee awarded a penalty for KEB as the ball hit Surkumar’s hand. Barreto briliance made it 1-1- in the 30th minute when he headed the ball into the net from 10 yards!

The rest ? free style wrestling by two teams – mostly by Mehtab, Sanju, Nauba, Barreto, Ishfaq – and Gurwinder and Ashim rightly shown marching orders.

What about Nabi and coach Morgan – had they been in EPL they would gave got bans for at least 2 matches and a huge penalty – lucky Nabi and Morgan – they were in India.

Mohun Bagan : Shilton, Surkumar, Anwar, Deepak, Mohonraj, Isfaq (Snehasis) ,Rakesh, Manish (Jayanta), Muritala (Ashim), Barreto, Chidi. 
East Bengal : Sandip, Naoba, Okpara, Gurwinder, Soumik (Nabi), Sanju, Penn, Mehtab, Sushant (Ravindar), Sushil (Nirmal), Tolgey.

McDowell Mohun Bagan will take on their arch rival Kingfisher East Bengal in the next round of iLeague campaign. Apart from traditional rivalry, return of key players from India camp in both the sides, war of words and strategies between two veteran mangers and huge media attention have created public interest in such an extent that IFA, after a long time, is expecting over hundred thousand spectators on 6th Feb to watch the first Kolkata derby of 2011. The match will be held at Yuba Bharati Krirangan on Sunday 6th February. Official time of kick off is 3.30 PM IST. Bagan shared point with Air India in their last iLeague away match while East Bengal too shared honor with Churchill Brothers at Kolkata. It’s time for the fully loaded big guns of the Mariners to show their dominance not only to earn full 3 points but also to regain their prestige and pride.

In this season (2010-11) three matches have been played between these two teams and in each outing Bagan had to face defeat. In the final of the Federation Cup at Cuttack after putting two genuine goals into the net of East Bengal, Bagan had to face defeat due to the match official’s controversial decision of cancelling both the goals. In that occasion East Bengal won by 1-0.

In the final of MSC Platinum Jubilee Cup, the match went into the tie-breaker and KEB came out again as the better side in that match as well. In the last encounter in Sahara Kolkata Premier League Bagan was defeated by 2-0 margin and it helped East Bengal to regain the Kolkata League after long three years.

&