JCT'S Hardeep Gill (Picture top) is challenged by Mohun Bagan's new defender Ajibade Babalade in their National League match at the Salt Lake Stadium on Wednesday. (Below) Scorer Ashim Biswas. Pictures by Santosh Ghosh.

Calcutta: Mohun Bagan are getting their feel back on the ground, slowly, and pretty unimpressively, though. In a dreary display of pathetic soccer, the home team beat JCT 1-0 in their National Football League (for the ONGC Cup) match at the Salt Lake Stadium Wednesday, but might as well have returned with a single point instead of three.

Ashim Biswas, too, was finally into goals, heading home the winner in the 16th minute. That leaves Mohun Bagan now at fourth spot, behind East Bengal, Dempo and Fransa. Fransa and Bagan both have ten points, but Fransa are ahead on goal difference and have played one match less (six). JCT remain unhappy on seven points from seven matches.

The big disappointment was in defender Ajibade Olaniran Babalade. In his first match in India the Nigerian failed to impress.

In front of a sparse crowd ? that?s the appeal of Mohun Bagan these days ? he showed slow movement, inaccurate trapping, barely any passing, and a couple of headers he missed that could have placed Bagan in a better position.

Not just that. In the 71st minute he effected a back-volleyed clearance and fell to the ground and failed to get himself to be back in action. He had to be replaced. That showed his absolute lack of fitness. If there were any positives emerging from this match it was in the 16th minute when in a Bagan attack Noel Wilson took a 25-yard volley that came off the crosspiece. Ashim, in the box, snapped it up quickly and headed into the far corner of the netting. Later, Bagan assistant coach Shyamal Banerjee (coach Subrata Bhattacharya is currently suffering from media allergy) said ?this goal will bring Ashim back, with renewed confidence.?

This comment of Banerjee, of course, was after he had compared Babalade with the famous Samuel Omollo and that ?he should be okay in two-three matches.?

Rightly, of course, Wilson was declared Man of the Match.

The misses of the day were close, too. A hesitant Baldeep Singh at theMohun Bagan goalmouth was dispossessed by goalkeeper Bivash Ghosh in the 12th minute. Mehtab Hussein outdid Baldeep in the 27th minute when he shot out from close after KV Dhanesh had failed to thwart a Roberto Mendes Silva ?Beto? forward pass. It was a difficult thing to do.

Beto headed off target three minutes later and play had gravitated towards midfield. It was all over bar the whistle, delayed through injury time recovery, when the Punjab team suddenly wanted to fight. Off a quick move Ram Paul was in possession at the goalmouth. Then he shot over. Few can, from there.

?That was a case of wrong perception,? JCT coach Sukhwinder Singh said later. ?He should have scored with his stomach in that position, but he wanted to use his legs instead.?

TEAMS

MOHUN BAGAN: Bivash Ghosh, Dulal Biswas, Eduardo Coelho, Ajibade Olaniran Babalade (Mehraj Uddin Wadao), Manas Das, Mehtab Hussein, Noel Wilson, Basudeb Mondal (Sunil Chhetri, 66), Dharamjit Singh (Jerry Zirsanga, 61), Roberto Mendes Silva ?Beto?, Ashim Biswas.

JCT: Mansuru Mohammed, Daljit Singh, Harpreet Singh, Julius Akpele, KV Dhanesh, Baldeep Singh (Jaswinder Singh, 24), Sukhwinder Singh (Charanjit Kumar, 68), Surjeet Singh, Ram Paul, Harvinder Singh (Manjit Singh, 46), Hardeep Gill.

Referee: Rizwan-ul-Haq (Delhi)