Mohun Bagan SG beat its traditional rival East Bengal by a comfortable 3-1 margin in the return derby of ISL at the Salt Lake Stadium on Sunday, to collect the full quota of points and reach the top of the current standings with 36 points from 17 matches.
Bagan and Mumbai City FC have the same points (36) but the former, which has also played a match less, took the top spot for having scored more goals. East Bengal remained on 18 points from 19 matches.
East Bengal regretted captain Celiton’s Silva’s inability to place the ball right from the spot in the 14th minute as Mohun Bagan goalkeeper Vishal Kaith judged it right to keep East Bengal waiting for the break.
Mohun Bagan turned things around on its side from this point and doubled its resolve to find the lead in the 27th minute when Jason Cummings tapped home a rebound following a Dimitri Petratos effort that was blocked by the East Bengal goalkeeper Prabhsukhan Gill.
Mohun Bagan maintained the intensity of the attacks and doubled the lead in the 37th minute when Petratos set up Liston Colaco with a nice pass for the latter to slot home.
Much like the first goal the second goal also spoke a lot about Petratos’ commitment as the Australian striker saw his first attempt coming off the post. He gathered himself quickly to receive the rebound and set-up an unmarked Liston to just place the ball home.
Mohun Bagan made it 3-0 from an injury-time penalty that was converted by Petratos after Liston was brought down inside the box by Nandhakumar Sekar. This virtually sealed the match in favour of Mohun Bagan even though East Bengal made a valiant effort after the break and pulled one back through Saul Crespo, who scored a world-class goal in the 53rd minute. The Spaniard showed nice control as he chested down a cross from Cleiton and shot home to bring up a fine goal.
Mohun Bagan shook off its aggression and sought a retreat into a defensive shell apparently happy with the lead. East Bengal coach Carles Cuadrat brought in couple changes in form of the development players P.V. Vishnu and Sayan Banerjee to induce the dynamism in its attacks.
The effort bore fruit in the form of Cerspo’s early goal and got East Bengal to mount a series of attacks putting Mohun Bagan defence under relentless pressure.
Cleiton almost made it 3-2 in the 63rd minute but Vishal Kaith had the defence against the Brazilian’s effort. The Mohun Bagan keeper dived to his left to clear Cleiton’s header and kept the scoreline unaltered.
East Bengal made a strong claim for a penalty in the second-half injury time when Vishnu seemed to have been brought down by the Mohun Bagan midfielder Abhishek Suryawanshi but the referee sought to haul up the East Bengal attacker for simulating a dive.
The result: East Bengal 1 (Saul Crespo 53) lost to Mohun Bagan SG 3 (Jason Cummings 27, Liston Colaco 37, Dimitri Petratos 45+3-pen)
Comments
SHARE