Bagan labour into semis

Today Mohun Bagan took on a star studded Mahindra united in a bid to book a place in the semis of the coveted IFA shield. Coach Karim Bencharifa made one change to the starting 11 which tore George telegraph apart last Friday. He brought in custodian Shilton Paul in place of Sangram Mukherjee. Today though Karim had his hands full with the likes of Steven Dias, N.P. Pradeep and Sushil Singh being there on the opponent line up. Mahindra started the brighter of the two and almost found the opener when a dinked shot from foreign recruit Muritala Ali just went passed the post after beating Mohun Bagan custodian Shilton Paul. Mohun Bagan though started to come back into the game and nearly grabbed the lead when an Edeh Chiddi effort was well saved by Mahindra custodian Subhashish Roychowdhury. Bagan kept on the pressure and it ultimately paid off. A flowing passing move found out James Singh on the right and his left footed in swinging cross evaded the Mahindra defense and an unmarked Snehashish Chakraborty headed Bagan into the lead. Mohun Bagan got lifted by this goal and pressed for the second but some good Mahindra defense put paid to their efforts. The second half though was a completely different story. To stir things up, Mahindra coach David booth brought on India international Steven Dias. It paid immediate results. Hardly has the crowd settled down after the lemon break, Mahindra were back on level terms. A flowing move found sushanth Mathew clear on the left and his cross found the new foreign recruit of Mahindra, who headed in without any trouble. This goal spurred on Mahindra and they went in for the kill. They brought on N.P. Pradeep and Sushil Singh. Bagan defense were in tatters and twice it was the sheer brilliance of Shilton Paul that saved the day. To resurrect things, Bagan coach brought in Santa Kumar in place of snehashish and Subho Kumar in place of Kuluthungan. But the Mahindra pressure was unrelenting. In between there was a small interval when there was some crowd trouble. Really it left a sour taste on the mouth after the electrifying atmosphere. After the resumption, Mahindra kept on pressing for the winner and were only denied by some dogged defending by Deepak Mondal and surkumar Singh. When the final whistle was blown, it was greeted by the capacity crowd. Mohun Bagan were into the semis but they would have to perform far better to progress further in this tournament. Next up would be Chirag United and it will be a tough fixture. Reported by:Mr.Debabrata Dutta