Bagan misfire yet again

Orji opened the scoring for the visitors in the 46th minute,capitalizing on a through from Alit Sahni. And then in the 56th minute,before Bagan could take stock of the situation,JCT made it 2-0 through Baljit. The Bagan defence paid the price for leaving an alert Baljit unmarked as he pounced on a long ball and outpaced a desperate Rakesh Masih to fire past a helpless Shilton Paul.

Branco’s 25-yard right-footer in the 84th minute may have found the back of the net,but the stunning strike wasn’t good enough to bail Mohun Bagan out.

The Bagan boys were left ruing their luck after missing out on a couple of neat chances in the first half. Edeh Chidi came close to scoring as early as the 5th minute when his sharp header from close range was warded off by an alert Baldeep Singh. The n in the 22nd minute,a low shot from Chidi came off the post. And as Marcos Pereira missed one in the 41st minute,Bagan gave the impression that they would eventually have the last laugh.

But as the contest went into the second half,Marcos wasn’t effecting enough in feeding upfront and Chidi wasn’t responding well enough. The JCT players pulled up their socks,organised their defence,and capitalized on their double strike to eventually shut Bagan out of the match.

The second half saw the match uneasily physical even as Bagan’s N Mohanraj took a knock from Baldeep and landed up in hospital.

On a day that just didn’t belong to them,Mohun Bagan picked up three bookings —Mohanraj,Paul and Masih — while Deepak Mondal was sent off after he picked up a second yellow card by referee A Rowan.