Salgaocar shrivel as Mariners run mayhem at Tilak Maidan and clinch a convicing 1-3 win
CORNELL GLEN AND Jeje Lalpekhlua found the mark yet again for Mohun Bagan as the league leaders outplayed bottom-table Salgaocar in their own backyard to win 1-3 and continue their stint as the front-runners of the I-League title race.
As the home team went through a slew of changes to shake off the defeat to East Bengal - bringing in Gurjinder Kumar, Keegan Pereira and Seityasen Singh into the first eleven - the visitors made a couple of adjustments of their own; Sanjay Balmuchu and Lenny Rodrigues made a comeback in the starting line-up.
Brazilian defender Eder had an early go at the goal for Salgaocar that Debjit Majumder saved. But Mohun Bagan soon claimed control of the contest. A couple of corner kicks flustered the Salgaocar defense and then Jeje Lalpekhlua found the mark.
It was Sony Norde who fed Lenny Rodrigues, and th latter ran right into the opponent penalty box and let fly. Keeper Karanjit blocked it but the ball went straight to Jeje who tucked it away. Mohun Bagan were in the lead 12 minutes in.
Santosh Kashyap decided to step things up and he replaced the U-22 Alesh Sawant with the renowned Jackichand Singh. The fiesty factor was on the up too, Martin Scott got booked for a hard tackle on Katsumi Yusa.
But it didn't stop Bagan from going further ahead. At the half hour mark Katsumi Yusa tried a long ranger that Eder tried to deflect away but ended up providing Cornell Glen with a golden opportunity to score and the latter didn't miss it. Mohun Bagan were two goals up.
And right before half-time Glen struck again. Lenny Rodrigues sent a great ball ahead from a counter and Glen took it, fooled a defender and sent the ball in without a bit of hurry. The striker was clearly back in touch; after a goal drought he had now notched up 4 goals within 4 days in I-League and AFC Cup for Mohun Bagan.
Coming into the second half 3 goals down was never going to be easy for Salgaocar, but they tried hard. A good shot from Duffy was on its mark but Debjit made a brilliant save. Then Gilbert sent a cross to Duffy that Debjit had to rush out to intervene; Seityasen got the ball, had a practically empty goal to shoot into but missed. Gilbert soon got on the book for a professional foul on Sony Norde who was running into space.
Then Duffy got a goal. A cross sent in by Jackichand Singh saw the striker get a header right on target and this time Debjit could do nothing about it. 1-3, 70 minutes in.
Gilbert, already on the book, made things worse for Salgaocar when he picked a fight with Bikramjit Singh, resulting in both being shown the yellow card. Since it was the second booking for Gilbert, he was sent off, leaving Salgaocar with 10 men and a lost cause. They held on for the rest of the match to make sure the scoreline did not end up looking even worse.
For Mohun Bagan, the win was emphatic in every way. They won it comfortably and outplayed the home team. On 21 points from 9 games and still unbeaten, their title run continues, closely tailed by East Bengal, whose next game is against Salgaocar at this very ground. There's a good chance that the Red and Golds will win the contest and keep giving their arch rivals a tight chase in the league table; because Salgaocar, at the bottom of the table with 5 points from 9 games, don't look in a good shape at all... their defense seems to get depleted when faced with a strong, creative attacking force. Duffy, who with 8 goals is now the leading scorer of the league, is just one man and can only do so much if the team doesn't follow through.
