JCT Mills, Phagwara, continued their early sparkle to prevail 2-1 over Mohun Bagan in an I-League soccer match marred by poor supervision on Thursday.
JCT Mills, Phagwara, continued their early sparkle to prevail 2-1 over Mohun Bagan in an I-League soccer match marred by poor supervision on Thursday.
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Penn Ikechukwu Orji and Baljit Singh Sahni found the target for the winners before Branco Vincent Cardozo pulled one back for the local club towards the end of the Salt Lake Stadium outing.
Mohun Bagan began well, as James Singh's crosses pierced the rival defence, but the lacklustre display of their midfielders allowed JCT to seize lost territory.
Soon after resumption of play following the first half break, the millmen went ahead, capitalising on one of the umpteenth defensive errors by the city giants. Balwant Singh's cross was cleared half-heartedly and Penn shot home a powerful punch.
As Bagan's defence seemed porous and slow, JCT doubled the lead ten minutes later with Sahni nicely chest trapping a long ball and then outwitting Rakesh Masih with three touches before putting it in with a rasping right foot grounder. Masih was largely to be blamed for the goal as he never really attempted a tackle to stop Sahni.
Down by a brace, Mohun Bagan launched a series of counters, but Marcos Pereira shot straight to JCT custodian Karanjit Singh, who had a good day in office.
Bagan suffered a setback in the 62nd minute when Mohan Raj got hurt after the ball hit his groin and he left the field in an ambulance.
A desperate Bagan coach Karim Becharifa introduced the young Suraj Mandal, but the Phagwara side stood firm.
Finally, Branco let loose a rasping airborne 25-yarder in the 83rd minute which beat Karanjit and went in.
Pepped up by the reducer, Bagan again moved up, and Suraj Mandal dangerously cut inside the rival box but fell down. Bagan defenders vociferously appealed for a penalty, with the sizeable spectators in the galleries also lending their full-throated support, but referee A. Rowan did not relent. Television replays showed that Mandal was obstructed by the Bagan defenders.
A couple of Bagan players, including Marcos charged at the referee and pushed him, and the match had to be stopped for the while. When sanity was restored, Rowan flashed the yellow card at Mandal, and gave the same treatment to Branco.
Soon Dipak Mandal was also booked for showing dissent, and the Bagan captain's cup of woes was full in the 90th minute when he got his second booking and a subsequent marching order after felling Balwant with a tackle. But going by the television replays, Mandal seemed to have only tried to clear the ball.
Bagan retained their pressure in the 10 minutes of lost time, but failed to make any changes in the scoreline.
After two games, JCT have logged a full six points. In contrast, Bagan have tasted defeat on both occasions.
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