I-League 2017: Mohun Bagan coach miffed with star players after draw against Shillong Lajong

Scoring the penalty in the 12th minute, Dipanda Dicka of Cameroon held aloft the jersey No. 12 - that of Japanese midfielder team-mate, Yuta Kinowaki, who is supine in a hospital nursing a broken collar collarbone. Mohun Bagan captain Kinshuk Debnath had sent in a floater meant for Sheikh Faiaz. When Lajong defender Rakesh Pradhan tried to intercept the well-measured long-ball, he found it to sail above his head. In desperation, he could not help but chop at Faiaz’s legs.

And when Dicka successfully polished off the ensuing penalty to the mid-right of the goalkeeper, he calmly cantered closer to the sidelines to pick up the said jersey from the bench and held it aloft towards the gallery, turning it and receiving a thunderous cheer and applause. Dicka made himself unavailable while passing through the mixed zone. An official reasoned it was a show of solidarity for his injured colleague.

Dicka had also seemingly made himself AWOL after the penalty. Exasperation was apparent in manager Sanjoy Sen’s voice when he said, “What did Dicka do after that penalty? He did not play with responsibility”. He was equally critical about Kinshuk, "I have told him time and again not to jump out of his line while defending. He has this bad habit and it sometimes it just happens, one cannot help it". Kingsley's red card due to two consecutive yellows were justified but it was not at all acceptable by the coach from a professional player.

Was he missing Kromah and Sony Norde in the squad? "This 'defeat' is not due to the absence of few good players but due to the blunders committed by the regular players. It's never good for a team to depend on one or two players - be it international or domestic," came the matter of fact reply. He refused to pin this result on the absence of suitable foreign players in the start list while also accepting that the play is dependant on foreigners.

Sen surprised all when he said that he prevented Kromah from starting in the match, even though the later was willing. "He is suffering from knee and groin ailments. These are delicate spots and problems can escalate all of a sudden. These are all part of the game itself. In fact, this result will do us good - last few results had shored up the expectations but this result will help us focus more on subsequent tasks at hand," he said.

As if assuring staunch supporters, he reminded, "I am with the squad for the last three years. We have never won three-four matches on the trot. We had won two and then drew and so. I had said we can overcome the Minerva match by defeating East Bengal, which we have done. We are on our way to the championship even though only four matches have been played. We can overcome this if we pluck three points in our away matches."

Mohun Bagan had come off a scintillating 5-0 win in their last match against Churchill Brothers and had the chance to hold the joint-lead in the points table but sadly it was not to be.