(Melroy OG, Hugo)
Durand Cup is treated as a pre-season tournament by many Indian clubs now, and Mohun Bagan certainly is not an exception. After beating the Bangladesh Army 5-0 with the reserves squad, today Mohun Bagan came to the match with better strength where youngsters Suhail Bhat, Abhishek Suryavanshi and Ravi Rana featured with the first team.
In a game, where Juan's idea was to give some playing time to the key players before the derby, the youngsters shined. Abhishek started in the Pivot with Glan Martins, and continued his form from the last game. Ravi Rana had a great game too, replacing Ashish Rai in the right back spot. The hot prospect Suhail featured for the first 45' but had a good game.
Manvir was the star of the show in the first half, looking sharp, created few goal scoring opportunities from the right side. The first goal came from a great move, where Manvir ran deep in the box and put a minus for Suhail. Suhail made a late run and reached in a goalscoring position. Melroy had to take a risk in clearing the ball and mistakenly scored an own goal.
After going up 1-0 Mohun Bagan looked confident and managed the first half pretty well. The newly formed duo of Anwar Ali and Brendan Hamill had a good first half, where the Punjab Captain Luka Majcen couldn't do anything to test them.
In the start of second half, Coach Juan Ferrando subbed out Suhail Ahmad Bhat and Dimi Petratos came onto the field. Withdrawing a natural striker for a false 9 didn't helped Mohun Bagan and Punjab grew into the game, courtesy the Spanish star Juan Mera. But, Dimi combined well with Liston and Liston's cross touched Punjab Custodian Kiran who failed to clear it, and Hugo Boumous made no mistake in converting it.
After taking the lead 2-0 Mohun Bagan certainly switched off and for few minutes, it was looking like Punjab might score anytime. Hamill had few shaky moments but, Anwar Ali proved why he is regarded the biggest CB talent of the country.
The rainy ground certainly didn't help Mohun Bagan in playing the JUAN-BALL. Mohun Bagan were not able to play the free flowing football courtesy the heavy condition of the ground.
There were not many star performers today, but one player who again impressed was Abhishek Suryavanshi. Mohun Bagan with the addition of Sahal and Thapa in Midfield are in search of a Indian Holding Midfielder, who can stay calm,
Pass it forward, pass it sideways, control the tempo of the game. The ideal choice would have been Jeakson Singh, but singing him this window is difficult.
Here comes Abhishek, who has played two games for the senior side and was arguably the best performer in both the games.
In a pre-season tournament, players will be slow and out of touch. They need gametime to gain match fitness. Players like Bose, Glan, Dimi, Hamill, Anwar surely need it. Before the big game next Saturday, Mohun Bagan provided ample of game times to this players, who are going to start the next game.
Here is our player Ratings:
Vishal Kaith: 7/10
Shubhasis Bose: 6/10
Brendan Hamill: 6/10
Anwar Ali: 7/10
Ravi Rana: 6/10
Glan Martins: 6/10
Abhishek Suryavanshi: 8/10
Hugo Boumous: 6/10
Manvir Singh: 7/10
Suhail Bhat: 6/10
Liston Colaco: 6/10
Kiyan Nasiri: 6/10
Hnamte: 6/10
Sumit Rathi: 6/10