Here is the Bagan-Mahindras report

Mahindras, who had an equal share of the exchanges and four chances, could have salvaged a point with a goal in the last minute. But substitute Kenice Uche’s shot came of the near post after Bagan goalkeeper Sandip Nandy was beaten.

With this victory, League leaders Bagan swelled their points tally to 35 points from 17 games. Mahindras, who had lost to BSF 0-2 in their last outing, have aggregated 25 points from 17 outings and remain at the fourth spot.

“We only hope to finish third or fourth now,” said Mahindras manager-cum-coach Harish Rao after the game. “We had our chances but failed to make the most of them.”

Bagan coach Subrata Bhattacharjee was delighted with the victory. “We began shakily but improved tremendously as the match progressed,” he stated. He was all praise for Barretto who was a thorn in the side for the Mahindras defenders with his skilful play.

Mahindras began on an aggressive note and came by two chances in the first five minutes. First, striker M Najeeb found the outside of the net in a one-to-one situation with Bagan ‘keeper Nandy after linkman Andrew Louis had done the spadework. And next, goalkeeper Nandy foiled striker Manjit Singh and Khalid Siddique in quick succession after a defence-splitting diagonal from the right by Najeeb.

No quarter was spared by both the teams and the match turned out to be physical. There were five yellow cards shown, two to Mahindras players Manjit and Khalid Siddique and three to Bagan’s Nandy, Abdul Khalique and Mustafi.

Bagan’s lone attempt in the first-half came through Shkvirin in 42nd minute. But Mahindras goalkeeper Virender Singh showed sharp reflexes as he dived to the left and punched away the well-placed shot.

Bagan were the better side in the second-half. But although they troubled the opponents, goalkeeper Virender Singh was not called upon to do anything out of the ordinary besides being beaten by Abarowei in the 71st minute.