I-League Media Team

MUMBAI: Table toppers Mohun Bagan were held to a 1-1 draw by Mumbai FC in their Hero I-League match at the Cooperage on Saturday.

It’s a result that suits neither teams as Mumbai’s relegation rivals won their matches while Bagan dropping points would give the winner of the match between Bengaluru FC and East Bengal, considering both are in the title-race.
Both teams were forced to make quite a few changes owing to injuries and suspensions. Bagan were without their strikers Pierre Boya and Balwant Singh while Mumbai were without Taisuke Matsugae and Ashutosh Mehta. Stand-in coach Henry Picardo also decided to bench Nidhin Lal and Justin Stephen, instead choosing to play Rahul Bheke as the centre-back.

After a listless first half, were the teams had nothing to show except Katsumi Yusa’s free-kick hit the crossbar, both teams came out with much more intent. Mumbai started better and scored the game’s opening goal in the 49th minute. Jayesh Rane took a corner and Reisangmei Vashum jumped above the defenders to head the ball beyond Bagan goalkeeper Debjit Majumder’s reach.

The goal woke up a lethargic Bagan, who immediately swung into action. Coach Sanjoy Sen substituted Manish Bhargav with Bikramjit Aingh in the 56th minute. They began stitching together some good passes in the midfield and started to look more threatening. And thrice in a minute, they were denied an equaliser.

First, Katsumi’s faltering effort from inside the box was saved by Sanjiban Ghosh. A minute later, on the hour mark, Bagan were unlucky not to go on level terms. Denson Devdas’s header from a cross was saved by Ghosh and Jeje Lalpekhlua’s shot from the resulting melee was cleared off the line by Alan Dias.

Ghosh, who was named Hero of the match for his splendid performance, picked up a rib injury and was replaced later by Nidhin Lal. However, it wasn’t before he conceded the equalising goal. Dhanachandra Singh scored the elusive goal for Bagan in the 76th minute after he found himself in acres of space inside the box from a corner.
 

The goal sent hundreds of visiting fans into raptures. Buoyed by the support, Bagan started pressing more to look for the winning goal. However, Mumbai defended doggedly to hold on to a draw.

“We would have loved three points but one point is good. Mumbai are a tough team to beat. But we should have won, these are two points dropped for us,” Sen said. His counterpart Picardo too felt they could have won the match. “We were a bit disorganised when we conceded the goal. We could have won this,” he said.

Bagan still top the table with 32 points while Mumbai are seventh with 17 points.

Hero of The Match: Sanjiban Ghosh(MUM)