The Hindu : Sport / Football : Bagan posts narrow win

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Saturday, Aug 05, 2006

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Sport - Football

Bagan posts narrow win

KOLKATA: A star-studded Mohun Bagan team struggled to subdue a fighting Eastern Railway side 2-1 in a Sahara Kolkata Football League premier division match at the Barasat Stadium near here on Friday.

Having lost its first encounter to Kolkata Port Turst, Mohun Bagan needed to get back to winning ways and the team achieved it the hard way.

Bagan earned a penalty in the very first minute, when Baichung Bhutia was fouled inside the box by Babun Kar. Meherajuddin converted the spot kick.

However, the success was short-lived as the Railway team equalised eight minutes later through Bapan Bera, whose shot proved to be too much for goalkeeper Subrata Pal.

Houghton in attendance

With new Indian coach Bob Houghton watching the proceedings, Mohun Bagan found the going tough against an uncompromising rival defence in

which Niladri Sekhar Chakraborty played an outstanding game.

The second half saw Mohun Bagan in a better light putting together some good moves to put pressure on the opposition.

Yet, Railway's defence held firm and the team tried its best to hold the illustrious rival to a draw.

As luck would have it, Mohun Bagan fooled the defence for a second time following a corner kick taken by Dulal Biswas.

Bhutia got hold of the ball and shot goalward.

The ball rebounded off the bar and stopper Dipak Mondal slotted the ball home.

The relief was palpable on everybody's face in the Mohun Bagan squad. — Special Correspondent

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