Hugo Boumous' strike helps Mohun Bagan SG edge past 9-man Bengaluru FC | ISL 2023-24

Clinical Mohun Bagan SG climbed to the top of the pile in the ISL 2023-24 after registering a 1-0 victory against a gutsy Bengaluru FC side, who saw two red cards, at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Stadium, Kolkata on Wednesday, September 27.

Hugo Boumous' second-half strike in the end emerged as the only differentiator between the two sides, despite the disparity in the number of personnel at the end.

With Anirudh Thapa back from his suspension, Juan Ferrando opted to slightly shuffle his lineup with the Indian midfielder slotting in with Boumous and Manvir Singh. Meanwhile, the Blues' frontline was led by Curtis Main, who came on as a substitute and scored in their 2-1 defeat against Kerala Blasters.

Simon Grayson's men had a buoyant start to the half, unlike their reserved approach in the previous encounter. Main was heavily involved right from the get-go and in the 11th minute managed to set up Roshan Singh for a long-range crack. However, the youngster's vicious grounded effort was parried away by a diving Vishal Kaith.

From the resulting corner, Rohit Kumar came close to putting BFC ahead, but Thapa made his presence felt with a last-ditch goal-line clearance. Moments later, Mohun Bagan set out on an adventurous break of their own when Boumous squared the ball for Liston Colaco from the left flank. But Colaco's attempt was shy of Bengaluru's goal frame.

As the minutes rolled by, MBSG slowly discovered their rhythm and Jason Cummings had an opportunity to break the deadlock in the 21st minute, if not for a resilient block from Slavko Damjanovic. With the domination of possession, the Green and Maroon Brigade also continued to create ample half-chances but lacked the decisiveness to convert either of them.

The Mariners ended the first half without a single shot on target and Bengaluru had no reason to not be the happier of the two sides.

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Even after the break, Mohun Bagan SG sustained their momentum, roared on by the rejuvenated home fans. The Blues' defense kept negotiating with one corner after another but in the 49th minute, they almost fumbled when Rohit Kumar brought down Petratos inside the box. While the Mariners appealed for a penalty, the referee held his own and ruled against it.

But the hosts weren't going to get bogged down by the decision going against them and continued to rally forward. Bengaluru were more than happy to sit back and allow the opposition to control the proceedings, and they were punished soon. In the 67th minute, a half-hearted clearance from Aleksandar Jovanovic from Manvir’s cross fell comfortably for Cummings. The Australian forward spotted Boumous making a run down the left and found him with ease.

The Moroccan kept his composure and lashed a shot at the near-post to beat Gurpreet Singh Sandhu giving MBSG the elusive lead. Bengaluru reacted to the gaol with a triple change while Ferrando brought on three substitutes of his own. However, more misery awaited the Blues in the following minute as Suresh Wangjam was shown a second yellow card in the 75th minute. He clipped Petratos and the referee had no other option than to hand the midfielder the marching orders.

With nothing left to lose, Simon Grayson's men, despite being a man down, continued to push forward but nothing sufficed. Rather they were handed another heavy blow when Roshan Singh was shown a straight red for bringing down Petratos when the MBSG was through on goal.

Ultimately, down to nine men, the one-goal margin was too steep a climb for BFC to make and they slumped to their second straight defeat in the league. Furthermore, they were left handicapped for the next fixture, with two suspensions.