Calcutta Football League 2018: 'The team is only 70% ready,' says coach Shankarlal after Mohun Bagan's win over Pathachakra FC

Mohun Bagan won their first encounter of this year’s Calcutta Football League by virtue of a single strike by Henry Kisseka under the floodlit club ground at the Kolkata Maidan. Coach Shankarlal Chakraborty feels that the team is only 70 per cent ready and there are a lot of areas in which the team has to improve.

Although the Mariners took quite a lot of time to get into the groove of things, it was in the 17th minute that foreign recruit Henry Kiseeka got the chance to get the lead, but the shot was off target.

Basant Singh and Shilton D’ Silva also tried their luck but the shot-stopper was not in danger at all. A golden opportunity was wasted in the 49th minute with a Pintu Mahato shot sailing over the crossbar.

Mohun Bagan had a few nervous moments in the second half with Dipankar Sarker almost scoring Pathachakra’s first goal of their campaign, but Shilton Paul jumped to his right to put the ball out.

The 62nd-minute strike was headed out from the goal line by Pathackra’s defender. A minute later, a shot was denied by the woodwork. Finally, Henry Kisseka scored the winner in the 75th minute. Substitute Tirthankar’s corner was connected by Kima, but the rebound was tapped into the goal by Kisseka.

During the post-match press conference, Mohun Bagan’s coach Shankarlal Chakraborty pointed out the technical shortcomings of his boys. “We had no pressure. We wanted to play our natural and we knew that the goal would come. Our team is 70 per cent ready; we need to improve on our transition time. The time we are regaining the ball and building the attack and again if we lose the ball we have to defend again. This is the area where we need to improve,” said Shankarlal.

He added by saying, “It (the win) was an effort of the entire team. We had a new face is the team, this game was a learning curve for us, we will rectify our mistakes during the practice sessions. Our display was not flawless, but there were silver linings.”

With three points in their kitty, Mohun Bagan will face the likes of Rainbow FC in their next match on Tuesday. On the other hand, East Bengal will play their second match against West Bengal Police at the club ground.