I-League 2015/16: Mohun Bagan defeat Mumbai to extend lead at top

Starting Lineups:

After a 0-4 thumping of South China in the AFC cup in midweek, defending champions Mohun Bagan returned to the I-League welcoming home Mumbai FC, who last won a game back in January. Coach Sanjoy Sen, who received a suspension for his derogatory statements against AIFF, made just one change to the team that took on South China and brought in U-22 player Manish Bhargav in place of skipper Katsumi Yusa.

Both teams started the match slowly, sizing up each other in the initial minutes. The home side used the flanks to mount attacks on the Mumbai defence with Sony Norde and Manish Bhargav pestering Ashutosh Mehta and Pratik Chowdhary respectively. But it was the away side that produced the biggest chance of the first 25 minutes after Japanese midfielder Ryuki Kozawa launched a piledriver from 25 yards, which looked set for a goal. But Debjit produced a magnificent diving save to parry the ball over the bars to the disappointment of the opposition bench.

(Can Mohun Bagan overcome the midseason bump to make it 2 titles in a row?)

But the arrival of Katsumi Yusa certainly added more mettle to the Mohun Bagan attack, and he opened the scoring just five minutes after his introduction to put the home team ahead. Cornell Glen found Jeje in the box and the forward passed it to an unmarked Katsumi Yusa near the far post and the Japanese midfielder cleverly placed the ball in the far corner, giving Pawan Kumar in goal no chance.

The home side had the chance of the season minutes before the break after Sony Norde got past Pawan Kumar to run at an open goal. The Haitian, who missed an open chance against South China in the midweek, did the same this time around by sending the ball into the orbit to the disappointment of the home fans.

It could have been much worse for the visitors, had Katsumi Yusa’s peach of a shot from the box found the back of the net in the 75th minute. Instead, the post came to the rescue of Khalid Jamil’s team to keep the scoreline at 2-0. Although the home side had chances to extend their lead in the last fifteen minutes, Sony Norde and Jeje skied their chances to settle for a 2-0 win at the end of full-time.

With the win, Mohun Bagan took a three-point lead at the top of the table over second-placed Bengaluru FC after the end of 11 games. With just five more games remaining for both sides in the season, the I-league title is heading for an exciting finish with just five points separating the top three teams.

After registering an upset 2-0 victory over East Bengal in their last game, DSK Shivajians continued their new-found form in the league, this time, thrashing Sporting Clube de Goa 3-1 at the Shree Chhatrapati Shivaji Sports Complex in Pune on Sunday. The home side went up in the match within the first 15 minutes with Cameroonian striker Aser Pierrick Dipanda scoring with a bullet of a header. Ivorian midfielder Douhou Pierre made it 2-0 for the home side in the 21st minute with a thumping header past Arindam Bhattacharya in the Sporting goal.

The Ivorian scored his brace in the 32nd minute after finding himself in a 3v2 situation from a counter attack. Spanish midfielder Juan Quero and Dipanda joined Pierre in the attack before the Cameroonian forward passed the ball to the Ivorian to smash the ball past Arindam Bhattacharya. Sporting pulled a goal back in the 73rd minute through  a header from Subashish Bose to reduce the home side’s lead. But, it proved to be just a consolation as DSK won the game comfortably to move out of the last position in the table.