Calcutta: Scorelines can sometimes be deceptive. 

The 3-1 victory that Mohun Bagan recorded against Tampines Rovers in the AFC Champions League Qualifier Preliminary Round, at the Salt Lake Stadium, may give an impression that the hosts had a cakewalk, but in reality it was a close shave. 

On Wednesday evening, till Katsumi Yusa made it 3-1 seven minutes before regulation time, the visitors — coming into this tie with little preparation — were threatening to take the match into-extra-time. With a little bit of luck, they could have. 

“Luck wasn’t with us today. Otherwise it would have been a different story,” visitors’ coach Sundram Moorthy said at the post-match media conference.

The way Tampine Rovers fought back from 0-2 down was commendable. And after the change of ends, obviously boosted by the late first-half goal — they were all over Bagan.  

The match was just into the fifth minute, when Sony Norde, undoubtedly the best player on the pitch, toyed with the Tampines Rovers defence and played it to Dhanachandra Singh, who found Jeje Lalpekhlua inside the box. Jeje’s right-footed chip beat Mohammed Izwan all ends up. Six minutes later, Glen made it 2-0 for Bagan. 

Yasir pulled one back two minutes before half-time. Bagan’s third goal came in the 83rd minute, via Katsumi. 

Bagan, who became the first Indian team to win a match in ACL Qualifiers, now play Shandong Luneng Taishan in China on February 2, in the ACL Qualifier Preliminary Round II. It’s an improbable task, but then hope springs eternal. 

TEAMS

Mohun Bagan: Debjit Majumder; Pritam Kotal, Luciano Sabrosa, Kingshuk Debnath, Dhanachandra Singh, Katsumi Yusa, Pranoy Halder, Souvik Chakraborty, Sony Norde, Jeje Lalpekhlua (Abhishek Das 90), Cornell Glen (Prabir Das 84).
Tampines Rovers: Mohammed Izwan; Noh Rahman, Mohammed Afiq, Kwon Jun (Mustafic Fahrudin 66), Irwan Shah, Chris van Huizen (Sufian Anuar 72), Fazrul Nawaz, Shahdan Sulaiman, Mohammed Izzdin (Jordan Webb 46), Mohammed Hafiz, Fazrul Nawaz
Referee: Jarred Gillett.