Mohun Bagan beat Peerless 2-0 in a practice match held in Mohun Bagan ground today. Barreto and Lalampuia scored the two goals for Mohun Bagan.

Mohun Bagan defeated Peerless Sc by 2-0 in a practice match at the club ground today. Puiya and Barreto were the scorers. The team composition was 4-4-2 in the first half. Sangram played under the bar with usual back line of Deepak, Manju, Odafe and Habibur. Lalkamal was playing in left half and Mama in right with Marcos and Lalramluaha in Central midfield. Barreto and Puiya played in the upfront. Apart from scoring two goals Mohun Bagan also created number of chances in the first half and played a very positive game.

In the second half almost all the players of reserve bench from Branco Crodozo to Kartick Kisku got the chance to be in the action. Kartick Kisku and Lalramluaha were combining well through out the second half. Mohun Bagan got one spot kick in the dying moments of the second half as Kartick Kisku was brought down inside the box after a brilliant one- two with Lalramluaha. However Branco Cardozo missed the spot kick sending the grounder way outside goalkeeper’s right post. Ishfaq Ahmed was also effective in the second half with his speedy runs down the flank.

REPORT AND PICTURE: ARNAB DEY

“We’ve lost a battle, not a war” says Jose Ramirez Barreto. Sangram Mukherjee seconds him. Mohunbaganclub.com shares the vision with the players – this is the team that gave us 10 consecutive wins , this is the team that gave us the Federation Cup and the Kolkata League.

Mohunbaganclub.com and the supporters are upset after losing 3 vital points and slipping to 2nd position. We lost to a team that failed to win against us in 9 consecutive matches – and remember the last time we lost – was when Bhaichung Bhutia’s goal was rejected. And guess what- Dinesh Nair was officating the match on 11th September 2007 – the last time Mohun Bagan went down to the city club.

In two occasions Nair made Bagan play 10-men, though Bagan won both the matches. In the last match – Nair booked Bhaichung Bhutia for he was tackled from behind by Mehrajuddin Wadoo.  Instead of a penalty Bhaichung got a booking and will not be available for the next game. There were occasions when Deepak and Ishfaq were fouled and Nair ignored. The second goal conceded was from a free kick that was never there – Nair awarded this free kick to the  city club (Mohunbaganclub.com also congratulates Syed Rahim Nabi who made all the differences in this match)

Mohunbaganclub.com has learnt that the Club Officials are sending video footage to AIFF, and would request AIFF to see the standard of referring. The officials will request AIFF not to let Nair officate any of the Bagan matches in future.

In fact it started from the 4th minute when Ishfaq got a ball inside opposition box, and Nair whistled against Ishfaq – neither was Ishfaq off side, nor did he handle the ball.  The same referee seemed to cancel a clean goal that helped a Goa club earn a point in this i-League.

Nevertheless, Nair or no Nair, Mohunbaganclub.com and all the fans and supporters of Mohun Bagan – world wide – stand beside the players and wish them success.

Go Bagan – Go and win the remaining matches and give us the i-League!

Mohun Bagan today started practice for Churchill match.All the players were present in practice other than Baichung Bhutia. Baichung will miss next match against Churchill after referee showing him yellow card in last match, the decision was a questionable one as replay showed Mehraj had pushed Baichung in the box.

Here is the total schedule of practice of Mohun Bagan
February 26 – 8.30 am MB ground and 3 pm Salt Lake Stadium
February 27 – 8.30 am MB ground
February 28 – 8.30 am MB ground
March 1 – 8.30 am MB ground
March 2 – Team leaves for Goa

Team practiced for 1-1/2 hours today morning. After practice when asked if Mohun Bagan will miss the service of Baichung, Jose Barreto said, "Definitely we will miss Baichung, but we will have to make our plans accordingly without him." Commenting on preparation for Churcill match, he said, "We will definitely have plans for Odafa, he is a great striker and scored 6 goals in last match." On EB match, he said, "We just lost one match, before that we had won 10 matches in a row, East Bengal hardly did anything this season, for them beating us may be the goal, our goal is to win I league. It is surprising that few people are reacting in such as a way as if East Bengal by winning 1 match has got everything, whereas we have won 10 matches in a row and we had not achieved anything. We have won 2 tournaments this year and we are very much contender of winning I league too."

Coach Karim confidently said, "We will surely bounce back, we have done so many times this year like in KPL after George and MSc match, in Fed Cup after losing to Vasco, we won both tournaments. Right now we are title contenders of I league. Initially after the first few matches in I league, many people said we will fight relegation, now we are in 2nd position. After winning 10 matches in a row we have just lost one match, nothing more than that." When asked if he has anything to say to Subhash’ reactions, Karim said quoting Mahatma Gandhi "An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind. I respect all team’s coach. I follow certain ethics and will not say anything against coach of another team." He also added, "People should respect facts and the fact is that in this year we have played 36 matches, won 31 of those matches, won 2 tournaments and still quesions are being raised on our performance. We are still very much a title contender."