30 December 2007, Calcutta: The peerless Bhaichung
Bhutia provided a lifeline to Mohun Bagan’s beleaguered campaign,
guiding his team to a 1-0 win against East Bengal in their ONGC I-League
clash at the Salt Lake Stadium on Sunday.
The India and Mohun Bagan captain’s moment
of brilliance came in the 62nd minute, when he turned a cross from Jose
Ramirez Barreto into the winner with a perfect header.
The season’s third successive win over
Subrata Bhattacharya’s side at the Salt Lake Stadium helped Mohun Bagan
climb up provisionally to share the joint fifth place with Mahindra
United, having fetched 11 points from eight matches. East Bengal,
following their fourth defeat in a row in the country’s premier club
competition, were lying in the danger zone with just seven points. Their
title hopes are now as good as over.
If Bhaichung’s predatory instinct was the
high water mark of Mohun Bagan’s display, East Bengal’s performance, or
lack of it, was best captured by Mehrajuddin Wadao’s bizarre tackle on
teammate Soumik Dey in the 23rd minute.
The midfielder from Kashmir, much to the
surprise of all and sundry, lunged on the East Bengal left-back as the
latter tried to clear the ball. In the process, Soumik was injured and
needed medical attention while Mehrajuddin was booked by referee K.
Sankar for his incredulous act of violence.
Outthought, outwitted and outclassed — East Bengal were as dull as Mehrajuddin’s brain.
For nearly an hour, the game had just
meandered along, like a river at low tide, slow and murky. As many as
six players — three from each side — received caution from the referee
inside the first 25 minutes as the two sides threw their weight about,
winning possession for anything but good football.
Missing M. Suresh in defence and Alvito
D’Cunha in midfield, Bhattacharya had lined up in 4-4-1-1 formation;
hoping Anupam Sarkar to provide balance to the backline, Ashim Biswas to
operate in the hole, and Mehrajuddin to race back as much to close down
the Bhaichung-Barreto combine as looking forward to assist the upfront
man Edmilson.
The players hardly linked up and with
Mehrajuddin making a mockery of his assignment, East Bengal’s submission
to Mohun Bagan’s formidable midfield looked a foregone conclusion.
East Bengal still took heart from such
moments of promise as Ashim’s quick attempt from a melee and Edmilson’s
intelligent chip, which was negotiated by Mohun Bagan ’keeper Shilton
Paul, but Carlos Roberto Pereira’s team was always dangerous on the
break with the country’s most deadly attacking duo.
The Brazilian coach unleashed P.C.
Lalawmpuia 10 minutes after the breather and the striker’s pace and
potency down the flanks added more sting to Mohun Bagan’s attack. And
the goal came soon after.
The ball reached Man of the Match Douglas
da Silva following his team’s first corner and he sent it to the far end
where Barreto was lurking. The Brazilian headed the ball back into the
box as goalkeeper Subrata Paul came out of his line to challenge him and
up went Bhaichung — unmarked and in a flash — to ruin East Bengal’s
chances once and for all in the match. So disarrayed was the East Bengal
defence at that time that the only player next to the scorer was his
own defender, Habibur Rahman.
All the red-and-gold shirts, Anupam, Majek
Bolaji and Surkumar Singh remained rooted in their respective places,
perhaps bemused by the thrilling confirmation of the class that is
Bhaichung.
East Bengal went on the offence
thereafter, but without conviction. Edmilson missed a sitter,
his attempted shot going awry. With that, their run in the
I-League may have taken a wrong route as well.
Teams
Mohun Bagan: Shilton Paul; Habibur
Rahman (Lalkamal Bhowmick, 67), Peter Odafe, N.S. Manju, N. Mohanraj;
Dharamjit Singh (Subhashish Roy Chowdhury, 83), Douglas da Silva,S.
Venkatesh (P.C. Lalawmpuia, 55), James Singh; Jose Ramirez Barreto,
Bhaichung Bhutia.
East Bengal: Subrata Paul; Surkumar
Singh, Anupam Sarkar, Majek Molaji, Soumik Dey; Jayanta Sen (Chandan
Das, 85), Mehtab Hussain, Mehrajuddin Wadao (Dipankar Roy, 71), Syed
Rahim Nabi; Ashim Biswas (Snehashish Chakraborty, 75), Edmilson.
Referee: K. Sankar (Tamil Nadu).
Here are the match videos :
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