Salgaocar find classy Chima too hot to handle

A cross from the right by substitute R P Singh found Chima controlling the ball with his chest before unleashing a left-footed volley past Juje Siddi in Salgaocar’s goal.

But Chima’s dual act, after splitting the field in the 60th minute to set up Dipendu Biswas, who shot Began into the lead, failed to bring him the Man of the Match award. The honour fell to Salgaocar’s wing-back Roque Pereira, the announcement dumb-founding an already shell-shocked crowd numbering well over 20,000.

Pereira’s nomination brought Salgaocar their seventh Man of the Match award from nine matches but it failed to humour coach Shabbir Ali who came down heavily on the officiating.

Shabbir claimed his side were denied a penalty and a goal in the dying seconds, being judged off-side. The unfortunate player on either occasion being Sanaton Singh.

There was rugged play, crunching tackles and dissent as tension rose high and it fetched a total of eight yellow cards (six to Bagan) and one red to the Calcutta side’s medio Satyajit Chaterjee after a second booking.

But T K Chatunny, who left Salgaocar in December to join Mohun Bagan, refused to share the joy he displayed on the pitch with reporters in the post-match conference by staying away.

Bagan’s manager S K Mukherjee instead attended and was all praise for his side’s dour defending that absorbed enormous Salgaocar pressure right through the match. Bagan’s victory today gives the table leaders a clear four-point lead over second placed Air-India and a six-point advantage over third placed Salgaocar.

The Federation Cup champions’ failed with inept shooting. Nigerian Jude Odegah — substituted by Satish Kumar mid-way through the second half — and Bruno Coutinho were wayward in their attempts. In stark contrast, Bagan, presented with a mere three opportunities, came good twice.

The Goans did the early running and much of the buzz in their early pressure was created by new Iraqi recruit, Sameer Abbas — another one guilty in Salgaocar’s gross prodigality.

With three-time man-of-the-match Sanaton effervescent yet again in the right mid-field, Bagan and goalkeeper Hemanto Dora were stretched to the hilt.

Sameer’s skills caught the eye. Although a trifle slow, the Iraqi denied himself a memorable debut by failing to get on to the score-sheet as Salgaocar kept the attacks coming thick and fast in the first half. A back volley from Sanaton’s cross sailed over on the 10-minute mark and with a yawning goal in front of him in the 22nd minute, Sameer headed wide off the far post after Venkatesh sped down the right flank and crossed.

Ranjan Dey was outstanding in the Bagan back-line and with Raijul Mustafa, Satyabrata Bhowmick and Biswanath Mondal undeterred by Salgaocar’s pounding, it always appeared that a goal at the other end would settle it. It came on the hour and it punished the Goan side for incredible misses — the players to agonise being Odegah (twice) and Sameer — as Salgaocar’s forwards ignited in the second half.

The combative Okerie stole the ball from Roberto Fernandes in mid-field and a diagonal to Biswas saw the striker outpace the defence before slotting past a helpless Siddi in goal.

The stormy goings-on after the interval brooked as many as six yellows as Chima, Chatterjee, Soumitra Chakraborty joined Salgaocar skipper Franky Barreto in earning referee C Sethumadhavan’s wrath.

A second yellow and an automatic expulsion brought a climax to the drama after, just minutes earlier, Bagan coach Chatunny stepped onto the field to calm down his players following Barreto’s foul on RP Singh. Chatterjee earned his marching orders for tripping Venkatesh with six minutes remaining.

Bagan’s reduced strength came a little too late for Salgaocar to salvage a point from the match but even as the crowd watched with hushed silence, visions of a draw appeared for a split moment. To the dismay of Salgaocar and their supporters, however, linesman Bosco Pereira ruled Sanaton’s goal off-side.