Mumbai FC capitalize on Paul’s howlers

I-League match between Mohun Bagan and Mumbai FC at the Vidyasagar Krirangan in Barasat on Monday.

Paul literally presented the Mumbai outfit with their first win in the tournament — a 2-1 scoreline that took the visitors to six points. Bagan,on the other hand,stay rooted on nine.

Bagan’s first-choice keeper Sangarm Mukherjee was ruled out of the match after he met with an accident before the game. Mukherjee slipped in the bathroom and injured his right foot. It needed five stitches to fix the wound. The incident forced coach Karim Bencherifa to field Paul who simply doesn’t belong to this level. “He (Paul) just had a bad game,made some mistakes. But that doesn’t mean he can’t bounce back from here,” Bencherifa tried to protect his ward. It was a feeble attempt.

To make matters worse,there was Sagram Mandi in defence. Bencherifa had no option but to play him as his regular centreback Rakesh Masih was out,suspended. Together Mandi and Paul ensured Bagan’s winning streak was broken.

Mumbai FC took the lead in the first minute as Abhishek Yadav was allowed a free header inside the box by Mandi. Even though the header was not at all threatening,Paul found himself in no man’s land like a spectator and watched the ball sail through to the net.

The visitors doubled the advantage in the 41st minute with their Nigerian striker Bashiree Abbas taking full advantage of a misunderstanding between Paul and Mandi. Paul came off his line to collect a long ball,while Mandi was covering Bashiree. The two team mates collided as the ball slipped out of Paul’s grip and fell nicely for the Mumbai FC striker to complete the formality.

Bagan went into attack mode in the second half. Replacing Ishfaq Ahmed with Branco Cardozo upfront was a positive substitution and it almost worked. Branco helped reduce the margin in the 60th minute as he dropped his marker with a fantastic first touch and unleashed a right-footer that was partially saved by Mumbai FC custodian AC Nithinalal. But Snehashis Chakraborty was in the right place at the right time to score off the rebound.

In fact,it was all Mohun Bagan in the second half. They created chances,earned corners but the Mumbai FC rearguard was stubborn. Nigerian defender Bernard cancelled out Bagan’s goal machine Edeh Chidi,and Nithinalal was outstanding under the bar. The latter denied Chidi,Marcos Pereira and Manish Mathani from close range and earned the Man-of-the-Match award.

Luck too was not with the green-and-maroons as Chidi’s shot came off the post. But all said and done,against a team that didn’t have any real match-winner,it was Bagan’s game to lose and they made mistakes in the vital moments of the game. Bencherifa’s boys need to shake off the lingering fanfare and focus on the trophy which they missed last season.

EB beat Viva Keralaskipper Syed Rahim Nabi scored the lone goal as East Bengal defeated Viva Kerala 1-0 in their sixth round I-League match at Kozhikode today. Nabi found the net as early as in the 10th minute of the match to help his side’s cause.

Despite dominating the match,Viva Kerala paid for poor finishing.

With this win,East Bengal moved to six points,while Viva Kerala stay on three points.

Chirag Utd held
Sporting Clube de Goa came from behind to hold Chirag United to a 1-1 draw and split points in the sixth round

I-league encounter at Nehru Stadium at Margao on Monday. The visitors,who held more of the exchanges and scoring opportunities,took the lead in the 79th minute through Edmilson Marques from a penalty. Sporting fought back and equalised through Nathaniel Amos in the 82nd minute.

Chirag United collected 12 points,the same as Dempo Sports Club from six matches,to remain on the second position on goal difference,while Sporting,who drew their second match,have two points from five matches.