Shibaji Banerjee No More

With heavy heart, mohunbaganclub.com condoles the demise of stalwart Shibaji Banerjee, ex player, and Technical Committee member. Shibaji-da was present in the Rabindra Sarovar Stadium to watch Bagan play DSK Shivajians, and was seen accepting fans’ requests for group photos.

There is no need of introduction of Shibaji Banerjee, the goalkeeper was the icon and idol for boys of Calcutta of 70s and 80s, who would love to become a goalkeepers just like him.

The ex Bagan player was one of the key members of the technical.committee that helped Bagan to come back to the track of victories and performances in recent past.

He not only stopped Pele from scoring a goal, he won 34 trophies for Bagan, and dis not concede a single goal against East Bengal from 1977-1981. He played for 11 yeara for Bagan and was the undisputed number one goalie for the club.

Balwant Brilliance

Mohun Bagan got past DSK Shivajians today thanks to personal brilliance of Balwant Singh.

Bagan started with a careful note, with two defensive midfielders, but started losing the control of the game as DSK did well in intercepting the ball from time to time and their quick counter attack created panic for Bagan defense.

In one such attack DSK got the lead as Edu failed to clear the ball, and Pritam was clueless as DSK player Milan scored with a sprint past Bagan defense (0-1).

Bagan coach had to withdraw Sehnaz and replace him with Prabir, and this move helped Bagan get back into the game.

Yusa moved to the middle , and Pritam and Prabir started creating movements from right with Sony and Subhasis from left.
In one such movement a Pritam cross was half heartedly cleared by Subrata and Balwant header made it 1-1.

Soon a similar attack followed, and Balwant’s brilliance made it 2-1.

In the second half Balwant missed three chances to get his hat trick.

Later he was replaced with Jeje. Jeje was once pushed inside the box, and Bagan got penalty. Yusa converted the same by hitting at right of Subrata (3-1).

However, Bagan coach will have to see if Prabir can come into first XI and move Yusa to the middle. Prabir, Pritam, Pronay trio are doing well. So are Sony and Duffy with Subhasish’s support.

In fact Duffy was the man who was distributing the ball well, which helped Bagan keep control after conceding the goal.

However refereeing was extremely poor, Bagan was denied of three clear penalties. There were two occasions were Bagan players were hit off the ball directly by DSK players. But no card was shown. These types of refereeing seem to be from the same genre of Dinesh Nair’s and Santoshes which would benefit a specific team that for unknown reasons always get refereeing blessings.

Goalless Derby: A Good Game, and Better Refereeing

(Image Courtesy: Hindustan Times)

The East Bengal infested city of Siliguri saw a goalless end to the derby, with both teams actually playing seasoned and well thought out football and perhaps even better referring.

The build up to the derby was tense. East Bengal have always had the infamous knack of getting undue advantages from the referee & match officials in the past, sins unpunished, clock hands stretched and what not !

Hence, Bagan fans were prepared for the worst when to came to match refereeing, but were pleasantly surprised to see referee Srikrishna keep a good leash on the game. So kudos to the ref for that. Of course, Mehtab, Dika et al were up to their usual impish antics, but thats what they do best.

The match started off well, each team putting the other to a good test and battled for midfield supremacy. On one hand Sony Norde was kept on tight leash on the left flank, with a double marking at times, and got no space whatsoever for his down the flank runs. He of course showed his class off a few corners and passes, but today wasnt his day. On the other hand, the Bagan defensive trio of Anas, Edu & Subhashis did a great job of keeping Wedson & Plaza at bay. Tackles met tackles and tactics crossed paths.

Jeje had a sub par day at office, was perhaps struggling a bit with the uneven bounce of the Siliguri turf.The usually nimble footed Jeje seems to be losing his agility a little bit, which could be ominous signs for Indian football. Hope Jeje proves us wrong real soon !

Duffy was energetic and quite enterprising, tried a couple of solo runs but none of the moves were clinical. He dropped down to a more withdrawn role, ran up front when needed.

The first half was primarily dominated by Mohun Bagan (East Bengal did have 2 shots at goal, but were easily fended by Debjit). Bagan went really close to taking the lead on a couple occasions, especially off a corner, but EB custodian Rehnesh did an excellent job of keeping the scoreline intact. He was indeed the man of the match.

This league has seen EB start the 2nd half with a burst of energy, and Bagan did well to slow down the pace of the game at the start of the 2nd half. EB did have a few good moves, but none that really challenged the Bagan keeper Debjit, except for one occasion where Wedson had a clear shot at goal with only Debjit in front of him.

The Bagan front line lacked lustre and coach Sanjay Sen would have done well had he been a bit more courageous and brought in Balwant earlier in the game in place of Jeje. Balwant came in only in the 75th min,  and was starting to look dangerous before time ran out.

Sanjay did show a bold tactical move in bringing in Prabir Das on the right flank in place of an off color Sony and switching Katsumi to the right. This did bring in a burst of speed on both flanks.. but again, time was of essence.

Overall, it was a good game by both sides, and perhaps the score line was just reflection of the game today.

Bagan stay 2nd in the league table, with EB at top equal on points, but with better goal difference