After a nip and tuck battle for 90 minutes, Mohun Bagan edged past Aizawl FC in a thrilling encounter. Daryl Duffy netted a brace while Jeje scored the other goal for the home team, as Jayesh Rane and Ashutosh Mehta scored for the Northeast club, but came just a tad bit short at the end.
Despite a victory and bragging rights until the next round, Mohun Bagan didn’t reign supreme in the match. Only if Aizawl could have finished more of the chances that came their way, things could have been different.
Bagan took an early lead when Scottish talisman, with Darryl Duffy’s diving header, the quickest goal of this I-league so far with just 63 seconds on the clock. Katsumi, after snatching the ball away from an Aizawl defender, whipped in a peach of a cross which was addressed to emphatically by Duffy into the back of the net.
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Jayesh Rane nullified Duffy’s strike in the dying moments of the first half, sidefooting home from Bayi Kamo’s cross. Bagan again went ahead in the game in the 63rd minute after Jeje Lalpekhlua emulated Jayesh Rane’s goal. He tapped the ball in from close range after being teed up by Prabir Das, who ran brilliantly down the right and sent in a peach of a cross.
Another veteran of the game, Ashutosh Mehta, once again restored parity for the visitors when he headed home from a Jayesh Rane corner in the 70th minute.
Late drama
6 minutes away from regulation time saw another twist in the tale. A sprinting Katsumi was tripped inside the box by Ashutosh Mehta. The referee straight away pointed to the spot. Duffy stepped up for the kick and slotted the ball home despite a full-stretched dive in the right direction from Albino Gomes.
Three points were logged. Unfortunately, the brand of football from Mohun Bagan was not that great. Except for individual brilliance, the team looked bleak.
Bagan’s midfield troubles
One of the most underperforming units of Bagan in this game was their midfield. Coach Sanjoy Sen deployed four midfielders since the start in an attempt to dismantle Aizawl. They included the likes of Bikramjit Singh, Katsumi Yusa, Sehnaj Singh and Prabir Das. Barring Prabir Das and Katsumi Yusa, the other two were nowhere to be seen.
Katsumi Yusa stood out for the entire game. His intelligent runs laced with his breakneck speed made him indomitable. Unfortunately, Sehnaj Singh and Bikramjit Singh had no idea about what was unfolding alongside them in midfield.
Both were deployed as defensive midfielders to thwart the aerial balls intended for Bayi Kamo and Alfred Jaryan. However, there was too much space in the defensive third as Alfred Jaryan and Bayo Kami had acres of free space, regularly troubling the defense of Mohun Bagan.
Prabir Das was very intermittent in midfield. Despite the fact that he posed threats to Aizawl by his menacing overlaps, there wasn’t any serious blocking and snatching from him either.
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Quite a couple of times in the first-half he went for false jumps and made a hash of things. He could have been seriously injured when he went for an aerial tussle with Alfred Jaryan but was lucky to escape when Jaryan himself botched it up too, losing his own balance.
Katsumi led the foundation of the first goal but withered away after that. Despite sparks at irregular intervals, he failed to live up to his quality.
The weakness of the midfield was evident when Bagan’s last resort to score goals was mainly long balls intended for Jeje or Duffy. Katsumi and Prabir Das did run a few overlaps but there weren’t enough players up front to steer them to glory. Not even a single attempt was made down the centre to challenge the Aizawl defence.
Woes continued in second half
The second-half seemed even worse for the Bagan midfielders. They completely dried up after the first equaliser from Aizawl. The Aizawl players started making inroads, absolutely unchallenged. Debjit came to the rescue on a few occasions and defenders Anas and Subhasish had to make last ditch challenges to thwart the Aizawl coups.
Unfortunately, Aizawl failed to capitalise on such a poor display from Bagan. The Mariners walked out with full points punishing Aizawl for their string of misses.
Sanjoy Sen will not be a happy man at the end of the night. His decision to go to a 4-2-4 formation rather than a 4-4-2 formation backfired and could have cost him dearly if not for Duffy, Katsumi, and Prabir Das.
Change in strategy before the derby?
With the illustrious derby looming large on the horizon, Bagan will need to rethink their strategy and would probably adhere to the basics instead of spawning something fancy and risking their position.
East Bengal have the likes of Willis Plaza, Ivan Bukenya, Wedson Anselme, Mehtab Hossain and a plethora of quick players, who can convert half-chances. If Mohun Bagan play similarly against East Bengal, chances are high their Kolkata counterparts will make merry.
There are also other teams like Bengaluru FC and Mumbai FC who can raze through such a feeble midfield. Things may improve when Sony Norde joins the team from his injury. Eduardo Ferreira will also join the reinforcements as he is almost fit. Sanjoy Sen and the players will need to show much more application if they want to overcome their midfield problems or they might fall off the pace for the I-League title.
