An injury-ravaged Mohun Bagan traveled to Bhubaneswar with seven of the first-team players out for the national duty. With three consecutive defeats and multiple injuries, Mohun Bagan slipped down to fifth position on the ISL. Earlier this month Bagan management bid goodbye to Juan Ferrando and brought back their trusted man Antonio Lopez Habas. However, Habas is expected to take charge in February when the ISL returns, till then Clifford Miranda has been kept in charge of the team.
Our Starting XI for today's #KalingaSuperCup match against @sreenidideccan.
— Mohun Bagan FT (@MBFT89) January 9, 2024
Let's Go Mariners. Joy Mohun Bagan 💚❤️#JoyMohunBagan #MBFT #IndianFootball pic.twitter.com/qp6z915dHj
EARLY PRESSURE FROM THE OPPONENT :
From the very beginning, Sreenidi looked confident in their passing and controlled the game better than Mohun Bagan while the Bagan side struggled to find their footing. The first real chance came to Sreenidi as Lalromawia tried his luck from a distance with a volley and it went just over the bar. Sreenidi kept trying to breach the Bagan defense and finally succeeded when Rathi brought down Lalromawia inside the box resulting in a penalty against Bagan. William Oliviera sent Arsh on the wrong side and guided Sreenidi into the lead.
BACK ON LEVEL :
Well, after conceding the goal it took only ten minutes for Mohun Bagan to get back on the level. Abhishek saw the keeper out of his position and scooped over him. The floating ball hit the bar and fell onto the feet of Cummings, who made no mistake in tapping that into an open goal.
The second half was all about Mohun Bagan. Bagan players dominated the game and used wings to penetrate opponents' defense. Sreenidi stood strong against Bagan but failed to keep their defense intact as Asish Rai squared the ball for Sadiku to poke past Albino. In the 86 minutes, Abhishek Suryavanshi saw a second yellow and a red for his tackle from behind. Mohun Bagan played the rest of the match with one man down but Sreenidi failed to make the most of it.
A 2-1 (not so comfortable) victory for us at the Kalinga Stadium against Sreenidi Deccan FC.
— Mohun Bagan FT (@MBFT89) January 9, 2024
Next Up, Hyderabad FC on 14th Jan’24.#JoyMohunBagan #MBFT #KalingaSuperCup #IndianFootball pic.twitter.com/G8SfLctDRH
Although it was a tough win and the team did not perform as expected, but we have to keep in mind that many key players were missing in this encounter. After losing the last three back to back matches, today's win will certainly give the team some confidence going forward into the tournament.
MBFT Match Ratings :
Arsh 7/10
Raj 8/10
Sumit 7/10
Hector 6.5/10
Ashish 8/10
Abhishek 7/10
Hugo 7/10
Kiyan 7/10
Dimitri 6.5/10
Jason 6.5/10
Sadiku 7/10
Sibajit 6/10
Suhail 6/10
Engson 5/10