Mohun Bagan hammered Salgaocar by a clear 3-0 margin at Salt Lake Stadium today in the sixth round encounter of the I-League. Denson Devdas scored the first goal for the home side in the 4th minute of the game, Odafa scored the second in the 18th minute & Stanley put the final nail in the visitors coffin in the 61st minute of the game.
Mohun Bagan started with the 4-4-1-1 formation, with a lone striker Odafa in the upfront & Stanley played as a schemer just in behind. The visitors also started with the same formation with Sean Rooney as a lone striker.
The home side got their first goal from a corner taken by Snehashish Chakroborty from the right side, Nirmal Chhetri headed the ball towards Denson Devdas who directed the ball towards net cleverly taking two Salgaocar defenders with him.
Salgaocar however started to compose and dominate the midfield, and could have had their equalizer when the Mariners custodian failed to grip a fierce shot taken by Sean Rooney, but it went past, grazing the goalpost en route.
The Green & Maroon brigade got their second goal against the run of play in the 19th minute of the game. Odafa’s fired the ball home from 20 yards outside the box. In the 61st minute, the home side made it 3-0 courtesy Stanley. The Salgaocar defense was shattered by a solo run by Rahim Nabi from the and he passed the ball to Stanley who placed the ball into the net.
The home side could have increased their lead easily but they failed to convert. Odafa single handedly created three more opportunities but luck was not on his side.
The Mariners are now moving like an well oiled machine under the supervision of stopgap coach Mridul Banerjee, being able to pick up 10 points out of 12, and with 12 points from six matches they are in fifth position in the I-League table, just behind of East Bengal (14 points in 6 matches), Dempo (13 points from 6 matches), Churchill Brothers (12 points from 6 matches) & Prayag United (10 points from 5 matches).
This makes the situation smoother for incoming coach Karim Bencharifa, and the side look like they are once again back in the contention for the I-League crown.