If this club doesnot deserve to win the I league, then who does? 90 mins of Magical football is all that Karim Bencharifa's boys had to offer against JCT! Who would say this team was on 3 points from 5 matches, now they are on 12 points from 8 matches and they seem to be on a roll and mow any opposition down, come what may...
After a 10 men struggling win against the mighty Dempo, a Barreto-less win against the Churchill, Mohun Bagan strangle JCT even after being reduced to 10 men again.
Even after being reduced to 10 men at the stroke of Half time, nobody expected Mohun Bagan to play the football they played in the second half. Karim's confidence in his boys and their ability to cope with every situation was apparent once again. Though the main pillar of Bagan defense, Odafe was sent off, Karim stuck with the same set of players without worrying about his defense as he did not care to send in any new defenders, instead made Rakesh Masih to fill in for Odafe, who never fail to impress us. He was impressive in the midfield in the first half and then an ace in defense in the second half.
The football which the team played today, was purely "magical".
The match started off with Bagan stepping on the gas from the word go and the JCT defense seemed a bit jittery to start off with. Bagan brought on waves of attacks and finally in the 15th minute, Ishfaq Ahmed headed in the first goal from a long cross sent in by James from the right.
Only minutes later, Manju had the chance of doubling the lead, but he could not manage to keep it in.
JCT however came close once when JCT player hit the post but just could not open the goal mouth through out the match, thanx to Deepak and Masih.
In the 31st minute, Barreto was pushed from behind inside the box and was awarded a penalty, which Barreto did not fail to convert. Though the keeper guessed the right side, precision beat the keeper than anything else.
At the stroke of halftime, Odafe received the second booking of the match and was sent off much to the worry of the Bagan fans.
But in the 2nd half, Bagan though went defensive, it can be said that Bagan played a much superior quality of football. Sangram had to deal with just a few shots that made its way to the goal, while the other ones were dealt with by the defense.
Marcos again showed why the coach has trust in him as Rakesh and he took tremendous load in the midfield to unsettle JCT and make the day easy for Bagan!
Mohun Bagan after his win, has managed to win against threeof the tougher teams of the I League and on all the three ocassions have managed a clean sheet!
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