MOHUN BAGAN playing the second game under the new coach hosted Minerva Punjab. The Kolkata team saw themselves at the end of some good finishing and a bitter defeat at the hand of the team from Punjab.
There was some early pressure was imposed by the home team. Both wings were active in getting space to cross the ball. Each time the cross was attempted, the block led to a corner.
But it was a good Bhutanese man Chencho who needed just one opportunity to give his side the lead. He put a lot of power behind the shot from outside the box and Shibin Raj could not keep the shot from going towards goal.
Chencho could have had second when he was through in the box and had just the keeper to beat. He took one touh too many to allow Shibin to close him down and make the save off his attempted shot.
A superb pass bisected Kinshuk and Kingsley to find Chencho in space behind the defence. His shot from wide of the goal manages to find the back of the net for his and Minerva’s second goal. Bagan had to respond. A long Ball was played to Kadam in the box, first touch was poor and the ball ran away from him.
Dicka was in the box and saw the Minerva keeper come out and take down Dicka in the box. Penalty to Bagan with less than ten minutes to half time. Kromah stepped up. He ran in straight and tried to side foot the penalty kick but arching his body but Dagar made a diving save and the defenders were quick to clear. There was a small fight that was picked by Kinshuk and William. The players and referee were quick break the fight. Yellow cards were sown to both Kinshuk and William. Half time ended
Second half saw Bagan create many attacks. Kadam was involved in sending multiple crosses but Minerva had numbers back to clear away the danger. Minerva were pressured by the constant attacks but managed to create a chance of their own. Chencho played it onto Moinuddin in the left side of the inside of the box. His left foot strike took a deflection and was saved by Shibin.
Shrestha was brought on for the less impressive Kromah and he had two chances in the game. First of which saw him at the end of a Kadam cross but could not reach in time for the header. In the second attempt, he did test the keeper and Dagar made a save to deny the striker. Dicka was on the left side of the goal and shot with his left to see the ball going past the far upright. It was a close finish to the game when Kingsley took matters in his own hand and unleashed a 25 yard shot to beat the Minerva keeper in the added time to reduce the difference of goals to just one. Immediately Watson was in the box when a low ball was played in his path. His attempted from inside the box saw the ball fly high above the goal. 1-2 was the final score in Minerva Punjab’s favour to lift them up to the top of the points table.