Mariners lose first league match 1-2 against Chennai FC
2 Jan 2018 11:01 PM IST
Kolkata: Mohun Bagan suffered their first I-League home defeat in more than three years when Chennai City FC beat them 2-1 at their own club ground in Kolkata on Tuesday.
Jean-Michael Joachim scored early on while Ansumana Kromah equalised from the spot past the half hour mark. The ten-men Chennai City then scored with the numerical disadvantage through defender Veniamin Shumeiko in the 71st minute to leave doubts on Sanjoy Sen further continuing as the head coach of the Kolkata giants.
Sanjoy Sen made three changes to his starting lineup from the last game as under-performers Kinshuk Debnath and Nikhil Kadam were relegated to the bench. Raynier Fernandes was left out of the 18-man-squad. Rana Gharami and Azharuddin Mallick were summoned in. Young central midfielder Sourav Das was also given a chance.
The first dagger into the Green and Maroons' heart was punched in by Frenchman Joachim in the fifth minute itself. Sourav Das was embarrassed by Murilo who snatched the ball from him at the centre of the park.
The Timor-Leste national then trodded forward beating Rana Gharami and Eze Kingsley to release Joachim on the run and with only the keeper to beat, the former AS Nancy man beat Shilton Paul by targeting the top-left side of the net.
While the visitors continued to press hard, testing Shilton Paul a couple of times, the hosts remained toothless in attack. The first noteworthy attempt by the Mariners was in the 27th minute when Abhishek Das' cross was delivered to Ansumana Kromah inside the box but the Liberian hit the crossbar.
Surchandra Singh was brought in for Sourav Das who looked uneasy on his first I-League start. The former DSK Shivajians man sent in a freekick which resulted in a goal-line save from Pradeep Mohanraj with Azharuddin Mallick' header on course to hit the net. Mohanraj then turned villain for his team moments later, gifting Mohun Bagan their third penalty in four games. Ricky Lallawmawma's flag-kick was headed towards goal by Shilton D'Silva but Mohanraj blocked the ball from going straight into the net using his hand, thus getting his marching orders from referee Santhosh Kumar. For the last three minutes including injury time, both sides were reduced to ten men when Shilton D'SIlva was taken off the pitch for a cut on his forehead he sustained from a ball which slammed on his face.
Next Story
