Sporting scorers Denzil Franco and Dudu Omagbemi after the win on Monday. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta: Little did anyone know that so much drama was in store in a match which had no bearing on the National Football League (NFL) championship issue.

Mohun Bagan and Sporting Clube de Goa, both lodged in the lower half of the standings, sprang to life after being locked in a slow-motion affair in the early stages of their clash on Tuesday evening at the Salt Lake Stadium.

The Goan team had the last laugh (2-1), even as Mohun Bagan thought they had managed to earn a point.

Towards the end, Lalkamal Bhowmick of Mohun Bagan and Sporting’s Harmanjot Khabra broke into a duel only to be intervened by the referee who showed them red cards.

It was the Dudu Omagbemi factor which worked against the home team. The Nigerian striker, who will leave for Belgium for trials with a first division club after the NFL, scored a minute before the final whistle to take his tally to 12.

No wonder Dudu was adjudged Man-of-the-Match.

The Goan team took its tally to 22 points, thus nosing ahead of Mohun Bagan (21).

Denzil Franco struck in the 35th minute to break the deadlock. A lacklustre Mohun Bagan, not helped in any way by a jittery defence, tried hard to get back into contention. Four minutes later, Sporting almost strengthened the lead but Dudu, having led a solo attack, could not beat Mohun Bagan goalie Sangram Mukherjee.

Bhaichung Bhutia was substituted after the changeover. Captain Jose Ramirez Barreto and P.C. Lalawmpuia were off target as well.

If Barreto’s deflection ballooned over the cross in the 58th minute, the spirited Lalawmpuia barged the Sporting defence, only to get denied by Mukherjee.

However, the green-and-maroon brigade managed to restore parity in the 80th minute. Trying to clear a Barreto pass, Sporting defender N. Samananda Singh deflected the ball into his own net. The goal, however, was credited to Barreto.

“It was Barreto’s effort… That the final touch came from the Sporting defender didn’t matter here,” argued referee Rizwan-ul Haq.

As fate would have it, the Mohun Bagan citadel fell again in the 89th minute. Substitute Papiah Jagadish set it up for Dudu who made no mistake.

TEAMS

Mohun Bagan: Sangram Mukherjee, Deepak Kumar Mondal, Sanjeev Kumar Maria, Bijoy Basfore, D. Ravanan, Douglas, Meharajuddin Wadoo, Dulal Biswas (Bhaichung Bhutia 46’), Suman Dutta, Jose Ramirez Barreto, P.C. Lalawmpuia

Sporting Clube de Goa: Felix D’Souza, Denzil Franco, Chandrashekhar Chinta, Philip Gomes, Samananda Singh, Harmanjot Khabra, Franco Godwin (Papiah Jagadish, 72’); Joseph Pereira, Rasaq Bello, Dudu Omagbemi, Ernest Jeremiah (Nath Nicholas 65’)

Referee: Rizwan-ul Haq (Delhi).