I-League: Sporting Clube edge past Mohun Bagan

Sporting Clube 2 (Karpeh 17, 78)

beat

Mohun Bagan 1 (Muranda pen 84)

KOLKATA: A brace from skipper Boima Karpeh saw Sporting Clube de Goa beat Mohun Bagan 2-1 in Round 5 of the Airtel I-League at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on Saturday (October 19, 2013).

Karpeh scored once in each half with Kenyan Eric Muranda pulling one back for the home side from a penalty late on.

This was Sporting Clube’s second straight win and takes their tally to seven points from four matches while Mohun Bagan remain winless.

Despite the absence of Nigerian central defender Echezona Anyichie due to suspension and skipper Odafa Okolie due to injury, Mohun Bagan started their first home game of the Airtel I-League strongly and should have been in front within the first ten minutes but both Muranda and CS Sabeeth were wasteful.

First Sabeeth lost his footing and failed to connect with Muranda’s teasing low cross. Minutes later, Muranda put his effort wide after being played clean through on goal.

However almost against the run of play Sporting Clube scored through Karpeh. Mohun Bagan lost possession in midfield and Cajetan Fernandes made them pay by playing a delightful through pass for Karpeh, who held off the challenge from Aibor Khongjee and scored past Sandip Nandy after rounding him.

The green-and-maroon brigade could have equalised almost immediately as Zakeer Mundampara found Muranda free inside the box but the Kenyan couldn’t hit the target.

The remainder of the half had plenty of stoppages with both sides committing fouls and giving away freekicks.

One such freekick was awarded when Sporting Clube goalkeeper Ravi Kumar accidentally handled the box outside the box but Japanese Katsumi Yusa couldn’t score from the freekick.

Both teams conceded plenty of freekicks in the second half also and that didn’t allow Mohun Bagan to play at a high tempo as they chased the equaliser. They only had half chances from freekicks while Sabeeth headed wide from a corner despite being unmarked.

Mohun Bagan coach Karim Bencherifa brought on the young and exciting Ram Malik but before he could make an impact Karpeh doubled the away side’s lead.

From a counter attack substitute and India international Dawson Fernandes found Karpeh, who outmuscled Wahid Sali before going past Nandy and finding the back of the net.

Malik won the Mariners a lifeline though as his cross was handled inside the box by Matthew Gonsalves which saw referee Santosh Kumar point to the spot.

Muranda successfully converted the penalty but it only proved to be a consolation as Mohun Bagan suffered back-to-back defeats.