Bagan keep their 100 percent record

According to the training schedule, Mohun Bagan today hosted fellow CFL opponent kalighat for a pre-season friendly. The match was scheduled to start at 3pm but due to rain it was postponed to 3.20 pm. Kalighat sent out a good young team whereas Bagan started without any of their foreign recruits. Defence was handled by Sukhram Mandi, Ananda Vasan, Biswajit Saha and Zenith Genius, whereas midfield was marshaled by James Singh, Kalia Kulutungan, Micky Fernandez and Snehashish. Branco and suraj Mondol were the forwards. The first half was a sea-saw affair with both teams creating good opportunities but failing to score. The glaring chances fell to Branco and Suraj, who wasted them to the dismay of the supporters. Seeing the lackluster finishing, Karim Bencharifa brought on the duo of Marcos Pereira and Edeh Chiddi. The substitution yielded immediate results as Marcos’s cross picked up by unmarked Ananda Vasan who gave bagan the lead. That was it for the first half. The second half was a far more entertaining affair. Santa Kumar came in place of Snehashish. Bagan created a lot of chances but were unable to convert because of some good reflexes by the kalighat custodian, who denied Chiddi and Santa Kumar. Amidst the anguish of the home fans, kalighat drew level with a break away counter attack as their striker headed home a neat cross from the right. This spurred on Bagan and wave after wave of attack were lashed at the kalighat goal. Subho Kumar and Karthik Kisku were brought on. Bagan’s endeavor was shortly rewarded as a good through ball by Micky Fernandez found out an unmarked Santa Kumar, who slotted home to restore the lead for the home team. There was a hint of off-side in this goal and the kalighat players protested, but in vain. This goal seemed like a killer blow to kalighat and the wind went out of their sails. Capitalizing on this, Edeh Chiddi chested down a Micky Fernandez lob, and with two defenders on him, beat the kalighat custodian with a powerful angular shot to round off the scoring for Bagan. The final score was 3-1. This match was a good work out and kudos to the visitors for making it a closely fought contest. The pluses for Bagan were the good form of Edeh Chiddi, Micky Fernandez, Zenith Genius and Santa Kumar whereas the poor finishing and wasted opportunities are areas that need sorting out. Reported by:Mr.Debabrata Dutta