"Who won?" asked a passer by.
"Mohun Bagan..." came a prompt reply.
"What's the scoreline?" he asked.
"2-0" replied a boy with a grin.
"Who scored?"
"Barreto-Bhaichung, who else..." with a look of satisfaction and confidence.
This was the little conversation I heard on my way back from the stadium and it seemed just perfect...
Karim's boys undid Chirag United's all efforts to salvage even a single point and save themselves from the relegation zone.
Though Chirag tried to force the issue with the beginning of the match, but soon taking control of the midfield, Bagan started to dictate the terms.
Attacks were coming in numbers, but Gopal, Chirag goalie made a couple of saves. But in the 18th minute, Barreto, off a Tulunga centre, headed in the first goal.
Bagan kept the tempo up and in the 29th minute, Bhaichung took a side volley to beat the keeper.
The entire first half Bagan reaigne supreme in the field giving Chirag strikers no chance to even come close. Vasan, Odafe and Habibur looked steady.
In the second half, Karim concentrate more on defending the two goals and not to humiliate Subrata Bhattacharya's side. Shilton seemed very solid under the post and didnot find any much of a problem tackling the few shots that came his way.
The quality of refereeing however has to be brought into attention of the AIFF by the Bagan officials. Through out the match, Barreto had to manage hard tackles for which he at the most got a free kick and at times not even that. Whereas Barreto ended up seeing a yellow card for sliding tackle. Marcos and Rakesh Masih were also booked today.
Bagan with todays win cemented their 2nd spot at the en of he 1st leg of the I League with 21 points from 11 matches.
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