Krishnendu Roy

Srinagar: In the end, the reactions of the two coaches said it all.

While for Krishnendu Roy it seemed to be a good day in office after Bengal drew goalless with Goa in their opening group league match of the Santosh Trophy at the Bakshi Stadium here, his counterpart, Mauricio Afonso was thoroughly unhappy with his team’s performance.

It was the difference in attitude that cost the 29-time champions full points from a match they could have won easily. All that Bengal suffered from was their inability to go for the kill when things looked in control.

It could have been Bengal’s match in the first half itself but they huffed and puffed at the rival goalmouth allowing Goa a lifeline in the end. And when the opposition tried to bounce back in the second session, the Bengal defence looked an unsure lot.

It was not clear why Bengal did not go all out when they were dictating terms in the midfield. Bengal then were clearly on the rampage. Shankar Oraon and Tarif Ahmed squandered easy chances.

The attitude of the Goans was different. The Bengal coach looked too eager to keep his defence intact never allowing a smooth operator like right-back Habibur Rehman to come up and join the attack. While Bengal refused to increase men upfront, Goa were always looking for an opportunity to gain the maximum from counter attacks.

Afonso should get the credit for egging his team on even when things did not look too bright for them. Goa were on the back foot in the first half, yet he was brave enough to change both his forwards in the second session to bring in fresh legs in attack. The gamble paid off well as Goa camped themselves in rival half to trouble the Bengal defenders time and again.

Unfortunately for Bengal, their goalkeeper Abhra Mondal had to be taken off in the 72nd minute when he hurt himself in a clash with rival forwards while diving to make a save. He got hit in the right eye and complained of blurred vision and was taken to the hospital for further check up. His replacement, Somnath Khara performed his duties reasonably well.

In the day’s first match, also in Group B, Karnataka edged past Maharashtra 1-0. Skipper Xavier Vijay Kumar scored the all important goal in the 61st minute.

TEAMS

Bengal: Abhra Mondal (Somnath Khara, 72nd); Seikh Azim, Kingshuk Debnath, Debabrata Roy and Habibur Rehman; Jayanta Sen, Mehtab Hussain, Gauranga Dutta and Snehasis Chakrabarty (Tapan Maity, 61st); Shankar Oraon and Tarif Ahmed (Syed Rahim Nabi, 41st).

Goa: Felix D'Souza; Cresson Antao, John Dias, Rowilson Rodrigues and Valeriano Rebello; Nicolau Borges (Joseph Pereira, 53rd), Francis Fernandes, Micky Fernandes and Joaquim Abrahanches; Peter Carvalho (Denzil Franco, 63rd) and Drupesh Dessai (Milagres Gonsalves, 79th).

Referee: Dinesh Nair (Gujarat).