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Mohun Bagan AC advanced to the semifinals of the 35th Federation Cup when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Salgaocar FC in the last Group C League match at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Cochin on Monday evening. Courtesy the result, Mohun Bagan finished as Group C toppers with seven points from three matches and will now play Churchill Brothers in the semifinals on Thursday, January 23.
Mohun Bagan’s goal came in the 58th minute. Odafe Onyeka Okolie sidestepped a rival Salgaocar player and essayed a long ball for Christopher, who chased, gathered the ball and as he tried to make his way through, Augustin Fernandes brought him down. Odafe then converted from the spot. If that came from the spot, Salgaocar’s equaliser came from nowhere. Bikash Jairu perfect left-footer from around 35 yards out beat Mohun Bagan goalkeeper Shilton Pal hands down to bulge the back of the net.
Earlier, Mohun Bagan’s first inroad happened in the 17th minute. Katsumi Yusa tried to find Odafe in the clear but even as the latter tried to latch onto the pass, an alert Salgaocar defence thwarted him. The resultant corner was gathered by Salgaocar goalkeeper Karanjit Singh. At the other end, Karanjit’s rival Shilton Pal came to his team’s rescue in the 31st minute as he dived to his left to palm off Francis Fernandes‘ header. Francis had timed his jump to perfection in an effort to direct Bikash Jairu cross from the right.
In the 35th minute, Mohun Bagan were awarded a free-kick from outside the 18-yard box. But Odafe’s curler went wide. Possibly Mohun Bagan’s best chance in the first half came in the 41st minute. Christopher gathered a ball and entered the rival box but his placement went agonisingly wide.
Changing over, Salgaocar survived a scare in the 48th minute. Substitute Ram Malik broke down the right and tried to find Odafe in the box. The Salgaocar FC defence panicked and Rocus Lamare in an effort to clear, almost scored an own goal as his clearance rebounded off the Salgaocar post.
Ram Malik brought a new dimension into the Mohun Bagan game from the moment he came on. On a couple of occasions, he went past Rahul Kumar on the left flank, but the Salgaocar defence always regrouped in time. Odafe could have added one more to the tally but Nicolau Colaco’s goalline save frustrated them in the 64th minute.
Ten minutes later, Bagan Coach Karim Bencherifa was forced to replace Odafe with Sathyan Sabeeth as the Nigerian striker was seen coming out limping. Thereafter, Jairu did equalise for Salgaocar but it came a bit too late.
