Welcome to the highlights of the I-League match between Mohun Bagan and Gokulam Kerala FC at the Kalyani Stadium.
FT Mohun Bagan 2- 1 Gokulam Kerala
Thanks for joining me, Lavanya , on this blog. Until next time, goodbye and good night!
And the full time whistle goes and we have a winner - Mohun Bagan has finally ended Gokulam Kerala's unbeaten streak over the Mariners. Gokulam Kerala came back to reclaim possession in the second half, 52-48 in the favour of the Malabarians. A whopping 31 fouls in this game. Gokulam Kerala had its opportunities and six shots on target as opposed to four for Mohun Bagan but the host made its chances count and now walk away with three points.
The captain's armband has been passed over to Gonzalez for the final few minutes. Not much left to do but to just run the clock down. G Kumar finds himself carded and sent off. Saying the game been rough is sugar coating the whole thing.
Four minutes added to regulation time.
89'
Costly miss here for Gokulam Kerala. Brilliant defense from Mohun Bagan. Salah strikes in, it has been kicked off by the defenders but comes back down and Salah has a strike again but again, but it goes straight above the net.
88' Confusion in the box there.
The Mohun Bagan keeper had already collected a shot slotted in by Gokulam Kerala but a player comes back in and tries to slot it in for a legitimate goal. The referee will have none of it. The goal line has been crossed.
STAT:
Gokulam Kerala has had four corners in this game as opposed to the one given to Mohun Bagan.
81' WHAT A MISS! MY WORD!
Gokulam Kerala gets the ball into the box and squanders one opportunity right near the post, bringing the player and two Bagan defenders with it. Marcus Joseph finds the ball and tries to slot it into the left corner but the ball misses the near post, grazing the side net. This is a costly miss that could have just about seen Gokulam equalise.
79' ANOTHER YELLOW.
This time to Haroon Fakhruddin
(Gokulam Kerala)
ATTENDANCE: 14370 in the Kalyani Stadium right now. Quite a heartening turnout and the Mariners have given them a show alright!
76' Substitution: Naorem out, Subha Ghosh in.
74' MISS!
My oh my. An effort from Gokulam finds itself just about deflecting off the Bagan keeper to safety. Buck up, defense! Lalromawia misses that goal by an inch. How has he been left unmarked?
71'
Gonzalez is down and clutching his right calf. Bad news?
68' CHANCE!
Salah presses down on the Bagan defense and has a good shot at the goal but he lofts it a little too high and it goes way too wide. Not going to see any of the OG Salah vs Salzburg angling here, I suppose.
66'
A persistent tackle from Mayakannan sees him bring down a man in white. That's going to earn him a yellow card.
60' Substitution: Lalramchullova replaces Julen Colinas (Mohun Bagan)
Colinas looked like he was in a lot of pain, curled up on the side there. He has been stretchered off. Clarity on his injury if any, soon.
58' CHANCE!
Gonzalez won't rest till he has a hat-trick it seems. A straight shot from the D finds itself grazing the top of the net. Imagine if that was angled just a little lower! Bagan would have been 3-1 up. No damage done though and sigh of relief from the Malabarians.
57' Substitution: Salah comes on for Malem (Gokulam Kerala FC)
Gokulam Kerala has gone into this game with a
4-4-1-1 but has not managed to do anything about the pace Mohun Bagan brings with it. It hasn't been clueless but a goal has snuck through in open play and it will hope this is the only one it concedes tonight.
48'OH AND BAGAN IS IN THE LEAD AGAIN. Gonzalezhas a brace to his name and he runs over to the fence and reaches out to his people. That's what this means for this team. that's what that dubious losing streak to Gokulam means to this side. Beitia comes in with a beautiful assist to give Gonzalez the ball, finding him right in the centre. Nicely angled to the right corner and there's nothing the Malabarians can do about that.
Halftime stat:
Both teams have had even possession of the ball and a shot on target each. The goal posts on either end have not been threatened as much as one would have hoped they'd be. Time for both teams to step on the gas a little if they want to walk away with a win and three points, sans the foul play of course.
45+3' He was itching to get there and he does. Marcus Joseph for the Malabarians. Malem was tackled down by a Bagan defender and the referee gives the penalty. Marcus makes no mistake this time. Timed sweetly to help Gokulam equalise. Nicely done this. The teams are on even footing again. Mohun Bagan could use a little introspection. A lead taken in the 23rd minute was squandered poorly.
Three minutes added to the first-half.
41'
Free kick to Gokulam. Joseph takes guard. There's a slight hesitation there. Ball is directed towards the left but the Bagan goalkeeper comes off his line to collect, there's a defender in white there too. No room for Gokulam to do anything here
41'
Few minutes left for the half-time whistle and it's been an engaging last ten minutes, Gokulam is pressing for an equaliser but Mohun Bagan is not making that task any easier for the men in orange. Can they pull something off here before the break?
Anyone else thinking of the Coldplay song, Yellow? It's been the flavour of the first half. Takes me back to the ISL game between Bengaluru FC and Mumbai City FC last night which saw 11 yellow cards given. What even is discipline?
34'
Rough play sees a free kick given in the visitor's favour. Marcus is brought down by a tackle from the back. A long ball finds a man in orange in the box but the header is off target, a little too wide for Gokulam's liking.
33'
End-to-end football here from Mohun Bagan. The home side is drawing Gokulam Kerala out with the defense looking a little shaky after all the scuffles in the middle.
28'
Tempers are flaring here at the Kalyani Stadium. Every second minute is seeing the two sides have a go at each other with Ashutosh finding himself in the middle of quite a few of those. The referee books him. Yellow.
SCUFFLE. Mohun Bagan and Gokulam players race to corner to get possession but Ashutosh and what looks like Naocha Huidrom Singh get into a little bit of staring game here. Ashu is down, but no reason to pull out the red here though. Yellow given to Singh.
23' GOAL! Franc Gonzalez makes it look too easy. Straight down the middle to find the back of the net.
22' Penalty? Gokulam Kerala has the ball and is coming down the left flank. In comes a man in white and there's contact but the referee has not seen anything and so no harm done. Lucky escape there. In a matter of minutes the same happens to the men in white as well. Ashutosh Mehta is the man down. Penalty given to Mohun Bagan! Gonzalez to take.
18' CHANCE! Beitia charges down the middle with Ubaid gearing up to decide which way to go. He has a clear shot the goal but slots it straight into the keeper's hands. He's had a good season so far, Beitia and is helping Mohun Bagan take the attack to the visitor.
Gokulam Kerala has an impressive record with corners, being one of the better sides to utilise these passages of play in the I-League. MBFC will want to factor that in when it figures out its man-marking strategies this evening. For Bagan, Nongdamba Naorem has shown pace right in the first quarter and that bodes well for the home side. The Malabarians are countering with a slightly anxious yet effective defensive line.
5' -
Lovely footwork from Suhair as he gets past Jestin to try and test the goal. Ubaid saves. No damage done. Mohun Bagan tested early. It's clear who has come into this game with momentum. Head-to-heads are something, aren't they!
KICKOFF
Mohun Bagan will look to turn the tide against Gokulam Kerala FC, a side it has not beaten in five previous encounters.
Line-ups:
Mohun Bagan: Sankar Roy, Francisco Martinez, Gurjinder Kumar, Ashutosh Mehta, Joseba Beitia, Nongdamba Naorem, Julen Olaizila, Suhair V, SK Sahil, Daniel Cyrus, Francisco Gonzalez
Gokulam Kerala: Ubaid Chono Kadavath, Huidrom Naocha Singh, Haroon Amiri, Mohamed Irshad, Nathaniel Garcia, Marcus Leric Jr Joseph, Kshetrimayum Meite, Jestin George, Muthu Mayakannan, Sebastian T, Henry Kisekka
Match Preview:
Kolkata giant Mohun Bagan will look to turn the tide against Gokulam Kerala FC, a side it has not beaten in five previous encounters.
Gokulam has won both its two games so far and looks well organized. Bagan, on the other hand, redeemed itself with a 4-0 victory over debutant TRAU FC after failing to register a win in its first two matches.
Ugandan frontman Henry Kisekka and Trinidadian striker Marcus Joseph have been Gokulam's standout performers, having scored all of Gokulam’s three goals so far.
Gokulam coach Fernando Varela, however, refused to read much into his team’s recent form and also success against Bagan, whom it had beaten in the Durand Cup this year.
He said: “Mohun Bagan are a very competitive side with great players and with quality to make a combined game. We must be concentrating for 90 minutes to beat them and we will concentrate on our improvement as a team and how to play a good game. The League has just begun and we must continue to improve.”
For Mohun Bagan, this will be its final game before the Kolkata Derby against arch-rival Quess East Bengal. Bagan has shown signs of combining better as a team as the league has progressed -- it lost a high-scoring entertaining game against Goan side Churchill after having 71% of ball possession and then completely overwhelmed TRAU.
Head coach Kibu Vicuna brushed aside his side’s previous result against Gokulam in the Durand Cup saying:“It is a different game tomorrow. That match was very even and we didn’t take advantage of the chances we had at the end of the match. We know that we have a hard game to play but we are prepared to face it. Our objective is to see that we are able to play well in order to garner the full three points.”
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