Dangerous Churchill Brothers run riot against dismal Mohun Bagan

High flying Mariners' boat suffered a sharp blow in their hull as a spirited Churchill Brothers side literally played with them (and the ball, of course!) in the den of the Kolkata Giants. The team which beat Real Kashmir a few days back fighting against adverse weather conditions, were at a loss today from the start even.

The match started with high expectations for Mohun Bagan fans as the Haitian magician Sony Norde joined the match today from the start at the cost of Omar Elhussieny, while Churchill had their keeper back from suspension. From the start, the Goan side started to build pressure in a 4-2-3-1 formation and the Kolkata veteran Willi Plaza came into the box in the first five minutes.

After conceding a few corners, the Kolkata side ventured in the offensive zones as Norde and Dipanda Dicka started to sniff for goals but often denied by blocks and woodwork. As a reply, Churchill Brothers turned up the heat and the stadium was silenced by Dawda Ceesay as the Ugandan player picked up a loose ball left by Dalraj and scored with ease.

After this, the remainder of the first half was a tale of an inspired performance by Churchill players and the Kolkata side trying to pass the ball to Norde as much as possible. Abhinas Ruidas came in for Pintu Mahata but it did not impact the game, with a series of missed opportunities and handball in front of the goal by Dipanda.

Even with a goal disallowed and the keeper changed, Churchill looked the more threatening side going into the break. The Red Machines continued their mayhem with the start of the second half as Willis Plaza scored around 51' with a cross from Israil Gurung and then another around 55' with a pass from Dawda Ceesay himself.

Mohun Bagan's defensive woes continued as Sony Norde tried and failed with the opponent defenders targeting him with success. A number of solo runs, corner kicks, and free kicks seemed unfruitful for the player as he failed to get the much-needed support from his compatriots. Dipanda tried and failed, whereas Kisekka was mostly noneffective barring a disallowed goal.

The changes from the Kolkata side manager came in perfect time but the team performance graph started going down and the game slowed down. In the added time, Dipanda tried some acrobatic skills with a bicycle kick and that too failed miserably.

Mohun Bagan came into the game as the second-placed team in the I-League table but the Goan side leapfrogged them with 3 points easily as they maintained their unbeaten run. Surely, the dressing room members in the Kolkata side have to think and self-reflect a lot to find where they went wrong from the winning ways of the last two outings.