118th IFA Shield: Mohun Bagan beat United Sikkim by a solitary goal

Former champions Mohun Bagan AC started off their delayed 118th IFA Shield campaign with a lone goal victory over United Sikkim FC at the Saltlake Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

The Mariners went into the match with injury worries as they had to field inexperienced and former United Sikkim goalkeeper Monotosh Ghosh in place of the injured Shilton Pal and Sandip Nandy, while talismanic striker Odafe Onyeka Okolie is also back on the injury list.

Mohun Bagan went ahead in the 27th minute through a Keralite co-production as a Denson Devadas corner was put into the goal by striker C.S Sabeeth with a header and the local side put a lot of pressure on the team from the Himalayas, but it remained 1-0 at the break.

The green-and-maroon got the best chance of the second half to enhance their lead in the 85th minute through a penalty after keeper Dibyendu Sarkar brought down Sabeeth, but Dibyendu made amends when he saved the spotkick from Zakeer Mundampara. In the end Mohun Bagan won 1-0 to gain the three points from the match, while United Sikkim stay without a point.

MATCH STATS

Mohun Bagan AC 1-0 (1-0) United Sikkim FC – Goals: 1-0 C.S. Sabeeth

Mohun Bagan ACMonotosh Ghosh – Pritam Kotal, Anyichie Echezona Celestine, Kingshuk Debnath, Souvik Ghosh (Aibor Khongjee) – Ram Malik, Denson Devadas, Zakeer Mundampara, Pankaj Moula (Shaiju Mon) – Katsumi Yusa – C.S. Sabeeth (Shankar Oraon)

United Sikkim FCDibyendu Sarkar – Irungbam Surkumar Singh (Ugohukhu Godwill), Amritpal Singh, Atinder Mani (Sanjay Chettri), Mayal Dok Lepcha (Mialan), Nim Tshering Lepcha, James Lukram Singh, Sukhwinder Singh, Sahinsha Ansari, Jeh Williamson, Oluwaunmi Somide Adelaja

RefereePranjal Banerjee (West Bengal)