Mohun Bagan began their I-league 2017 campaign on a victory note after they pipped Churchill Brothers by a solitary goal from Balwant Singh.
After an emphatic display in the first half, the team wilted down to Churchill’s possession style of football. To add to their woes, they had to play with ten men in the final 25 minutes as U-22 sensation Subhasish Bose was given marching orders.
Mohun Bagan ran amok over the Churchill rearguard in the first half. The visitors seemed to be punch-drunk having no clue about what was unfolding on the pitch. Things aggravated for the visitors when Bagan drew first blood via Balwant Singh.
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Balwant out-jumped his marker, Keegan and headed home with clinical precision, justifying his pick over Jeje. His last season was plagued by injury and he seemed famished for goals. The defence of Bagan stood tall despite incessant pressure from Churchill in the dying embers of the game.
We will take a look at those five points which changed the complexion of the game.
#1 Tight marking in defensive midfield
Defending a slender lead is always the toughest in football. One mistake can change the complexion of the game at any point and players need to be always on their toes.
Mohun Bagan was able to log full points only because of brilliant marking in midfield. Sehnaj Singh led the charge, and along with Pritam Kotal, Kingshuk Debnath, Subasish Bose and Anas built an impregnable wall in the Mohun Bagan rearguard.
After the goal, Churchill adopted a different style of football and resorted to keeping the possession with themselves. Despite failing to make inroads up front they played several square passes.
The defence of Bagan ensured that Churchill weren’t allowed any fairway in the first half. However, things changed in the second half and Churchill started pressing harder. Bagan’s gung-ho attitude seemed to alleviate in front of Churchill’s passing football.
It seemed as if Bagan was frustrated as they were not able to keep the ball for long and that led to the Mariners committing errors. Had it not been for the defence standing tall, things could have been different. Anas deserves special mention as he put his burly physique to the fullest use.
Things seemed to be extremely elusive for the home side when Subasish Bose, one of the debutants for Bagan, was given the marching orders after he picked up a second yellow for a rough tackle on Seriton Fernandes in the 64th minute. This red card forced Sanjay Sen to introduce two of the best defenders in his arsenal, Prabir Das and Pronay Halder.
Both of them came out with flying colours to aid the team to log full points.
#2 The inclusion of Kean Lewis and Souvik Chakraborty
After a dynamic performance in the ISL, it was pretty obvious that Kean Lewis was going to make a cut for the first team. However, Sanjay Sen wanted the Delhi duo of Souvik and Lewis to be on the pitch and this decision proved to be a good choice as the match unfolded.
Right from the first whistle, Lewis stood out tall, and the initial attacks of Bagan came through him as he was being fed with long balls from Pritam Kotal, Kingshuk Debnath, and Katsumi.
He came out with flying colours on all the occasions as he excelled with his lovely runs on the left plank and whipped in perfect crosses only to be squandered by the strikers. He put pressure on the Churchill defence as early as the 3rd minute when he brilliantly headed down a Yusa Katsumi free-kick only for Balwant to volley at a defender.
Three minutes later, he upstaged his marker with speed and curled in another delightful cross but it was intercepted by Priyant Singh of Churchill. 7 minutes down the line, Lewis made another spirited run but the attack fizzled out due to lack of players upfront.
As the game progressed, he seemed untenable as he unleashed a battery of crosses from the left wing. Had it not been for the profligacy of Mohun Bagan attackers, the scoreline could have witnessed an epic change. Souvik Chakraborty was a surprise package. Given his ability to shoot the ball from any range, it was expected that his inclusion in the team was to bamboozle them with sudden shots or runs down the wing.
He was a link between the defence and the midfield and was extremely instrumental in providing Lewis with balls. He could have made Churchill pay had it not been a sloppy show from Duffy, who failed to connect with a dinked through ball.
In the dying moments of the game, Churchill had to deploy 3 defenders just to stymie him from making inroads.
#3 Balwant impresses after picked over Jeje
Given the fact that Jeje wasn’t fully match-fit and also keeping his injury in mind, Sanjay Sen was compelled to opt for Balwant Singh over the Indian goal-machine.
An experienced campaigner, who started his career at JCT, Balwant had a lot to prove as he was being fielded after almost a year for Mohun Bagan. With 27 goals to vaunt about in his kitty, he had an eagle-eye for the net.
He started in an imperative fashion too in the game. He was in the thick of things right from the outset and notched up Bagan’s first set-piece within just 3 minutes, and seemed menacing near the Churchill goal. Adeel had to trip him to oust him of the possession and the referee laid down the law admonishing Adeel, a former Mohun Bagan player.
Katsumi Yusa sent in a peach of a free-kick for Kean Lewis to chest it down brilliantly, squaring off Balwant who volleyed it straight at a defender. Had he not been so itchy to polish it off and took his time, he could have spelt early danger for Churchill.
Three minutes later, Lewis came up with another delightful cross. However, Priyant Singh waylaid and cut the ball short. While he stood tall in exultation, Balwant was breathing right on his neck and the slightest of error could have seen him pounce on the opportunity. He was also involved in a rough tussle that left Keegan Almeida bloodied as Balwant’s right elbow caught his eyebrow while both of them went for the ball.
Balwant’s diligence finally paid dividends when he out-jumped his marker Keegan to slap a powerful header into the net, after being teed up by a gem of a cross from Pritam Kotal. Kingshuk Debnath crafted a delectable ball for Pritam Kotal, who latched onto it and laid the plinth for Mohun Bagan’s goal.
After the goal, Balwant started to seem a lot more vicious as he was brilliantly switching sides with Duffy, never letting the defenders to settle.
#4 Churchill’s lack of ambition to salvage something from the game
Churchill was one of the most feared forces of Indian football till a couple of years back. Even an iota of opportunity for them could have spelt disaster for their opponents. However, things have changed.
With no overseas player in their squad yet, the Indian players seemed too tame to instigate a spark. The first half witnessed an abysmal performance from the Goan boys as they failed to probe Debjit Majumder even once in the entire half.
Penetration was absolutely minimal and Churchill’s midfield was non-existent. To strike back, teams have to fight back and show exceptional character and grit. However, Churchill never did any such thing to even claw on the Mohun Bagan hull.
They switched their style to keeping possession and started playing as many passes as possible but the passes seemed to be an eyesore as they were all square and instead of invading Mohun Bagan defence, the ball went backwards.
After Mohun Bagan were reduced to ten men, Churchill did little to excite football lovers. Despite a brilliant run from Seriton Fernandes and a lovely ball crafted, the danger was thwarted as there were no Churchill players to prod the ball home. In the last ten minutes, they did beget a couple of opportunities, but Debjit was alert in both the cases.
In the dying embers of the game, Colaco rattled the woodwork from long range. That summed up all the efforts of Churchill.
#5 Churchill’s style of football
It is quite an effective strategy to slow down the game when a team is winning. However, Churchill, despite being the trailing side, was the one to initiate it, astounding everyone.
They started seeing a lot more of the ball and left the Bagan players frustrated and forced the opposition into committing mistakes. Two such glaring examples of howlers were Subasish Bose’s rash tackle and Sehnaj Singh being booked for another rash attempt to win the ball.
Bagan was given quite a run for their money in the second half as Churchill seemed a lot more vibrant threatening the rearguard of the hosts.
Seriton Fernandes came closest to scoring when he notched up the ball and sped past Anas and Kingshuk and even did beautifully to get past Debjit. However, an absence of players up front witnessed the opportunity being steered to safety.
Colaco found Debjit out of his line and decided to take a shy at goal. He was almost rewarded handsomely had it not been for the woodwork coming in between.
With numeric superiority for the last 25 minutes, Churchill could have easily pushed for the equaliser. With Bagan forced to defend with everything they had, Churchill failed to encroach.
Kingsley Fernandes was adjudged as the hero of the match for an impeccable and dogged defensive performance.
