The Hindu : Sport / Football : Mohun Bagan posts first win

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Wednesday, Jan 26, 2005

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Sport - Football

Mohun Bagan posts first win

By Our Sports Reporter

KOLKATA, JAN. 25. Two penalties in either half, the first one converted and the other saved, determined the final scoreline as Mohun Bagan managed its first win beating Sporting Clube de Goa 1-0 in a third round match of the IX National Football League for the ONGC Cup at the Salt Lake Stadium here on Tuesday.

Mohun Bagan's Brazilian striker Roberto Mendes Silva found the mark from the spot in the sixth minute of the match after Jerry Zirsanga was tripped inside the Sporting box. It turned out to be third time lucky, for the three-time champion finally earned a goal having drawn the first round match goalless against East Bengal while losing 0-1 to Mahindra United in the second. The win helped Bagan tally four points from three matches while Sporting Clube too has four points from three rounds.

Numerous chances

Sporting Clube squandered numerous scoring opportunities, including a 74th-minute penalty. The penalty came following a sequel of abortive attempts by Sporting in the second session. But there was no change in the scoreline with Mohun Bagan custodian, Prasanta Dora, parrying the attempt of Sporting striker Dudu Omagbemi.

In a bid to strengthen the frontline, Mohun Bagan included an extra striker, Sunil Chhetri, in the starting line-up alongside Brazilian Roberto and Zirsanga. The ploy seemed to work in the beginning as the host utilised the initial hesitancy in the visitor's ranks. This fetched the penalty in the sixth minute as the crafty Zirsanga broke through the Sporting defence only to be brought down inside the box by defender Felip Gomes. Roberto made no mistake from the spot.

Having taken the lead, Mohun Bagan seemed to shrink into a defensive shell and in the process slowed down the pace of the game. With the regular game-maker Noel Wilson repositioned in deep defence to fill up the space created by the absence of suspended Mahrajuddin Wadoo, Bagan preferred to play safe and preserve the lead.

Sporting made most of the free space it gained from Bagan's altered approach and mounted repeated attacks through its African trio — Adewusi Adebayo, Chidi Edeh and Omagbemi. Despite dominating the proceedings, Sporting could not score the goal as its strikers turned leaden footed inside the attacking zone.

The sense of futility was doubled in the Sporting ranks by Mohun Bagan's Brazilian stopper-back, Eduardo Coelho, who stood firm inside the box thwarting several of the opponent incursions. Eduardo, who was adjudged the man-of-the-match, was well supported by Dora under the bar.

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