Match Review:
After a excruciating loss to Sporting Goa Mohun Bagan played their next home game as they hosted the table toppers Salgaocar.Without Odafa Okolie not many would have thought Mohun Bagan could have got something out of this game against a strong Salgaocar team coached by experienced Derek Perriera.
Coach Karim on the other had to manage a winless team down on morale and without their no.1 striker.Mohun Baagan fielded a young team as they paired Eche-Kingshuk in the central defence and Ravinder and Aibor played as side backs.Denson was the blocking midfielder while Zakir was given the attacking medio role.Sabeeth and Ram Malik played as wing halfs down the flanks while Eric was lone striker supported by Katsumi behind Eric Muranda as a roaming withdrawal forward.In the first half both teams had decent easy scoring opportunities as Eric Muranda wasted a golden chance to put Bagan ahead while on the other end Duffey volleyed high and wide from an easy scoring chance.
Mohun Bagan did well in the midfield as Zakir and Ram Malik got some attack going down the right half. Katsumi kept frustrating his team mates and the 8000 odd fans present at the stadium by not releasing the ball early.Muranda had a game to forget as his first touch betrayed him for most of the match,he looked slow,his turning,shielding,covering showed he was not up to the level to match the alert Salgaocar backline.Salgaocar had a sold defence line led by Chika Wali,Nicolau Colaco,Caitan Costa and Rahul Kumar.But Salgaocar lacked their builkd up play as their foreigner Claude Gnakpa and Darrel Duffy could not string together any buildup play mainly due the industrious effort from Bagan midfielders as they effectively defended in number at times with 09 men behind the ball and Salgaocar forward Darrel Duffy was pretty much marooned all by himself in the forward line.Mohun Bagan wing halfs Sabeeth and Ram Malik successfully tracked back while defending and cutting off the wingplay from Francis and Gilbert .
As the first half ended goaless,both team turned up in second half to turn fortunes.Mohun Bagan looked more active post half time break and they picked up the lead in 55th minute in a quick counter attack as Sabeeh picked up pass from Denson and lobbed the ball beating advancing goalkeeper for a neat finish.
As Salgaocar tried to press forward Mohun Bagan defence looked in a bit of pressure as the visting team pushed men forward in search of an equalizer.Goalkeeper Shilton Paul was forced to make a few saves.
Karim made an important chance bringing in Shouvik Ghosh in place of Ravinder Singh and Shankar in place of an off colour Muranda,Both teams got few opportunities in between but failed to convert,But Bagan was finally rewarded with a two goal cushion in77th as Katsumi scored a scorcher from outside the box with a powerful swerving shot which beat Karanjit Singh.
Salgaocar left no stone unturned to get back into the match and was finally rewarded with a penalty as Duffey was brought down inside the box by Eche.Duffey made no mistake to make it 2-1 at 90'.As Bagan looked to close the game,Bagan suffered another blow as Denson picked up his second yellow in injury time and was given marching orders.But a resolute 10 man-Bagan held off Salgaocar from getting an equalizer to get their first win of I league by beating the table toppers.This win would definitely given Mohun Bgaan fans and supporters to be optimistic and the celebrations after scoring Katsumi's goal with Coach Karim just showed how much under pressure the coach and players were after their loss to Sporting club de Goa.
Bagan will have to find solutions and find it quickly as Aibor and Eric picked up injury knocks during the match,Denson red carded and Odafa under post-surgery rehab.
But a shrewd coach Karim who knows to take out surprise bunny out of hats needs to put together all his acts to field a tactically strong team to challenege impressive Mumbai FC in an away game,all eyes will be on the new young recruits in the likes of Shouvik Ghosh,Pritam Kotal,Rajib Ghorui and others.
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