Calcutta: High-flying Mohun Bagan were brought down to earth by underdogs Mumbai FC in an I-League encounter at the Barasat Stadium Monday. The 1-2 loss for the home team is déjà vu of sorts as last edition, they had lost to the same opposition, by the same margin.

After the phenomenal 5-3 drubbing of archrivals East Bengal and a commendable 2-1 victory at Lajong, Mumbia FC for the green and maroon brigade were supposed to be meat and drink. Or so they thought.

Bagan, and a few thousand fans of theirs, were stunned to silence in the very first minute of the game when Shilton Paul made a mess of a feeble Abhishek Yadav header in the 31st second to give the Mumbai side the lead. Abhishek’s weak attempt off a Subhas Chakraborty cross caught Shilton out of position as the harmless ball dipped into the net.

That Shilton played at all was the handiwork of providence as first choice Sangram Mukherjee cut his foot in a freak accident five minutes before kickoff. Bagan coach Karim Bencharifa was forced to induct Shilton, the only other ’keeper in the reserves.

The young goalkeeper, understandably jittery after conceding three against East Bengal the other day, was perhaps unnerved by how quickly things had moved.

But Mumbai FC’s second goal, in the 41st minute, was beyond justification.

A lob from midfield towards the Bagan goal had three closing in —Shilton and Sagram Mandi and the rivals’ Bashiru Abbas Mohammed. Lack of co-ordination between Sagram and Shilton saw them collide and the ball dropped to Bashiru who tapped into an empty net.

Karim substituted Ishfaq Ahmed, who was playing striker, with Branco Cardozo in the second half, the switch providing the home team an edge upfront. Ishfaq was a clear misfit beside Edeh Chidi and one wonders whether Branco shouldn’t have started the match.

With Snehasish Chakraborty proving to be the livewire down the left flank, Bagan began looking a lot more effective in the second half. And, in the 60th minute, Snehasish was in the right place to shoot home after Mumbai ’keeper Nidhin Lal had partially parried a Branco shot from the right edge of the box.

But once Snehasish limped off in the 75th minute, the sting in the Bagan attack went missing.

Credit must also go to the Mumbai FC defenders who rendered dangerman Chidi useless for most of the match, and under-23 ’keeper Nidhin, who was brilliant with his timely interceptions.

Nidhin, the Man of the Match, is Mumbai FC’s third choice goalkeeper. Sadly Bagan’s second choice wasn’t half as good.

Teams

Mumbai FC: Nidhin Lal AC, Prem Kumar, Anas Edathodika, Bernard Achaw, Luans Quao, Subhas Chakraborty (Nishant Mehra, 70’), Noel Wilson, Darren Caldeira, Kamaljeet Kumar, Abhishek Yadav (Dane Pereira, 90’), Bashiru Abbas Mohammed (Alex Amrose, 65’)

Mohan Bagan: Shilton Paul, Surkumar Singh, Deepak Mondal, Sagram Mandi (Tomba Singh, 68’), N. Mohanraj, L. James Singh, Manish Mathani, Marcos Pereira, Snehasish Chakraborty (K. Kulothungan, 75’), Edeh Chidi, Ishfaq Ahmed (Branco Cardozo, 45’)

Referee: Deepak Singh

MoM: Nidhin Lal AC