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Mohun Bagan missed out an opportunity to win a record 17th Durand Cup win after losing to Gokulam Kerala FC in the final match by a 2-1 margin at the Salt Lake Stadium on Saturday evening.
Marcus Joseph's brace was enough to spoil the party of 43,000 spectators present at the venue, waiting to see Bagan on the winning side. Bagan's Chamorro pulled one back in the 64th minute, but that was not enough for the 16-time champions.
Mohun Bagan conceded the first goal in the dying minutes of the first half, which was really a set back for the 'green and maroon' brigade. Mohun Bagan's coach Kibu Vicuna felt that it was a crucial point in the match, but he lauded the players for the spirited comeback, even though it went in vain.
Regarding the matter, Vicuna said,
"The key moment in the game was the first goal. It was hard for us to receive the goal just before half time and a four-five minutes after the break. But we recovered from the goal, we were very close to a draw. In fact, I think, we deserved a draw."
The coach felt that the players were tired after the 120-minute semi-final clash against Real Kashmir FC a couple of days ago. Balancing the matches of the Calcutta Football League with the Durand Cup is a very tedious task for any team.
During the post-match press conference, he said, "In the beginning, I felt that the team was tired, we tried and tried, but our tempo was slower than the other games. For us, it was too much to play a match to play every three days."
He added, "In my opinion, they were physically a bit better in the first half, but we finished better than them. It was a crazy game because, towards the end of the game, we could have scored goals with Fran Morante, Salva Chamorro missing the last chance. It was a very hard game tonight."
