Men in Green and Maroon too good for Quarim's boys!

Mohun Bagan today estopped Churchill in their bid to supremacy in the Yuba Bharati Krirangan. This will certainly go down as one of the best performances put up the men in Green and Maroon in this I league. Churchill coach, Quarim had waived off Bagan as a threat saying that Churchill has the best striker(Odafa) in the I league and certainly they will go for 3 points against Bagan. But what unfolded on the ground was quite unexpected and much to the joy of the million Mariners, Bhaichung Bhutia drew first blood in the 3rd minute of the game when the Churchill goalie squandered an ariel ball from Mohunraj. Pressure football ensued from the both sides but the Churchill attack spear headed by Odafa could not create much ripples in the Bagan defence which was well marshalled by Manju, Peter Odafe, Mohunraj and Subhasish. However, the scoreline saw a change in the 31st minute when Habibur stood up to the occasion and put in his 1st goal in the I league from a back header off Bhaichung. Churchill however pulled one back almost a few minutes later through Iyomi in the 38th minute and Bagan went into the half with a one goal lead. In the second half, Bagan adopted a strategy of defending the one goal and Barreto falling back and playing the role of a central midfielder, Lalampuia was introduced upfront at the expense of Douglas. This was a much wanted reformed show put up by the Bagan defense after the initial jittery performances in the I league, and the defense featuring, Odafe, Manju, Mohunraj, Subhasish and Anit(replaced Lalkamal in the 80th min.) seemed like an unpenetrable wall which returned every single ball that came its way. Odafa, the leading I league scorer was literally cut off from any delivery from his team mate. Churchill piled on the pressure in the second half pushing more men upfront but failed to make a point as the Bagan defenders had a reply for every move they made. Bagan emerged victorious with a score card that read 2-1 and Bagan now are on 24 points, still in the 4th place but just one point behind JCT who after equal number of matches are on 25 points. The Top 5 of the League Table as they stand on 31-1-08 Dempo---30pts Churchill-26pts Jct--------25pts M.Bagan-24pts M.Utd----21pts *n.b- all the teams have played equal number of matches, i.e 14 matches.