BMFC draw with Bagan

CALCUTTA, Nov 14: It was a day of draws in Group B of the IFA Shield here in Calcutta. While Mohameddan Sporting held fancied Air Force team of Thailand to a 2-2 draw at the Rabindra Sarobar Stadium, Bengal Mumbai Football Club too shared points with Mohun Bagan at the Salt Lake Stadium with a 1-1 result.

For BMFC, the professional club from Mumbai, it was welcome draw as it saw them enter the semi-final. BMFC have five points from three matches while Bagan, the second placed team in this group so far, have four points from two matches. The focus will now be on the last league match in this group between Mohun Bagan and Air Force of Thailand on Monday. As the situation stands, Air Force will have to win by at least a 2-0 margin to pip Bagan for the remaining semi-final spot from this group. Sporting, with two points from three games, are out of the tournament.

Bagan in their game against BMFC, went into lead in the 17th minute through Chima Okerie. Veteran medio Satyajit Chatterjee ran down the middle andpassed to Okerie just right of the BMFC box. Okerie’s right footer went past BMFC goalkeeper Ghumpe Rime.

The Mumbai team equalised in the 39th minute with right-back Gurinderpal Singh taking advantage of a gap in the Bagan defence. Abhay Kumar created the move from the left and crossed to an unmarked Singh, whose volley entered the net. Besides the goals, BMFC skipper Alok Das hit the Bagan post through a free-kick in the 14th minute and a suicidal goal almost resulted off a BMFC faulty clearance. The ball, however, hit the BMFC post as Rime stood stranded at the other end.