Calcutta: Mohun Bagan won 4-1, but there were hardly anyone to watch them. Playing in front of near-empty stands at the Barasat Stadium, they defeated Kumartuli MS comfortably, in Wednesday’s Calcutta Football League Premier Division tie.
The victory dispelled Bagan’s relegation fears, but it was obvious that the fans were yet to get over Sunday’s embarrassment at the hands of East Bengal.
Apart from looking to bring about some improvement in their reserve bench, Bagan will have to sort out the important issue of Dudu Omagbemi’s future with the club, which appears to be uncertain.
Dudu missed Thursday’s match as he was sent off in the previous game. In all likelihood, he will be back for the September 14 tie versus Aryan, which is Bagan’s last in the CFL. But whether he will continue thereafter or not, remains undecided.
“Honestly, I don’t know my future with Bagan yet. I came here for two months and after the CFL gets over, I’ll go back home to Finland.
“The club officials might want me to continue playing here. They will be having a meeting with my agent within a few days, but I will take the final decision. At the moment, I’m completely undecided,” Dudu said.
Coming back to the game, Ram Malik was the bright spot for Bagan, scoring one and providing assists for Azharuddin Mallick and Pankaj Moula, who got Bagan their third and fourth goals, respectively. Katsumi Yusa gave Bagan the lead as early as in the second minute, before their vulnerable defence allowed Kalighat MS to draw level through Sayan Dutta a little while later.
TEAMS
Mohun Bagan: Arnab Das Sharma; Safar Sardar (Prosenjit Paul, 82), Sanjay Balmuchu, Gustavo Silva (Judelin Aveska, 46), Suman Hazra; Ram Malik, K. Asif, Pankaj Moula, Kean Lewis (Robinson Singh, 71); Katsumi Yusa, Azharuddin Mallick
Kalighat MS: Sourav Chakraborty; Ranjit Shaw, U. Godswill, Mirazul Haque (Wasim Akram Mallick, 33), Sukanta Banerjee (Abhijit Mazumder, 46); Arijit Bagui, Kallol Pal, Goutam Thakur, Pradip Roy (Arunangshu Gupta, 83); Sayan Dutta, Christopher Chizoba
Referee: Amal Kar
MoM: Ram Malik
