Mohammedan Sporting goalkeeper Amar Deb palms the ball away from Felix Aboagye of Mahindra at Salt Lake Stadium on Wednesday. Picture by Santosh Ghosh

Calcutta: A pair of hungry foreign strikers preyed on a weak-limbed Mohammedan Sporting defence to carve out a 5-1 verdict for Mahindra United in their National Football League (NFL) clash on Wednesday.

Ghanaian Felix Aboagye and Raphael Patron Akakpo, from Togo, worked up a dream combination to punish Mohammedan Sporting on a hot afternoon at the Salt Lake Stadium. Felix fired a hattrick — the second in this edition of the NFL after Ashim Biswas — after Patron had drawn first blood.

An own goal by the panic-stricken Madhab Das completed Mohammedan Sporting’s misery as Mahindra became the first team to score five times in an NFL game this season.

Troubled as they are by dissatisfied players, who have repeatedly been complaining about their dues, the black-and-white brigade remained on a precarious 15 points after 16 rounds. Mahindra climbed to 27, thus staying within striking distance of the top three.

The die-hard Mohammedan Sporting fans showed their frustration during and after the match, hurling abuses and a few missiles at the referee and his assistants. Some of the officials’ decisions did defy logic, but that’s the rule rather than the exception in Indian football.

The blame for the humiliation, if any, should have been put at the shaky defence line. Jamshed Nassiri summed it up aptly at the post-match conference. “The team just collapsed today… the lack of understanding between the defenders and goalkeeper hurt us,” the coach said.

The coach wasn’t helped by the fact that central defender Satish Bharti had to leave the pitch 21 minutes into the match with an injury on the forehead. Abu Baker Godwin was asked to take Bharti’s place, an unaccustomed position for the big Nigerian.

Godwin and Madhab were at sixes and sevens trying to check the threat posed by the fleet-footed Felix-Patron duo, while goalkeeper Amar Deb also had an off-day.

Felix chased down a James Singh pass and essayed a beautiful low centre from an inch inside the goalline for an unguarded Patron to nod home after nine minutes.

Five minutes from half-time, Felix played a delightful one-two with S. Venkatesh before heading in without any challenge from Godwin or Madhab. For most of the opening 45 minutes, Mahindra held the whip with Venkatesh and James utilising the huge open spaces in the middle of the park and feeding enough balls for Felix and Patron to manoeuvre.

Mahindra goalkeeper Kalyan Chowbey was tested twice in the first half, Dipendu Biswas doing the spadework on both occasions. Syed Rahim Nabi hung on to the ball for too long before shooting straight to Chowbey while Sanjib managed a weak push from close range.

They had a moment of misfortune when a power-packed Nabi drive, off a quick half-turn, thundered into the crosspiece and rebounded into play shortly before the lemon break.

Crossing over two goals in arrears, Mohammedan Sporting enjoyed a bright ten-minute spell during which they reduced the margin. As an attempted Bungo Singh side-volley dropped in front of Dipendu, he showed great opportunism in heading it home.

Once Mahindra came out of that pressure, they toyed with the opposition in the final 20 minutes. Venkatesh picked up a Khalid Jamil pass and essayed a minus for Felix who shrugged off Madhab’s challenge and tapped the ball home.

Felix then trapped a Patron pass and left Godwin in his wake to complete his first hattrick in India. Within a minute, it was 5-1 as Madhab, in his haste to clear a James centre meant for Felix, pushed the ball into his own net.

Sabotage allegation

A Mohammedan Sporting official accused Siddiqui, Zaheer Abbas and Arjan Ali of sabotaging the team. “They were sitting on the bench and urging Mahindra to score when we trailed 0-2,” said football secretary Ishtiaq Ahmed.

TEAMS

Mahindra United: Kalyan Chowbey, Odartey Lawson, Covan Lawrence, Peter Siddiqui, Sanjay Parte, Khalid Jameel (Jules Alberto, 73), S. Venkatesh, James Singh, Steven Dias (Rauf Khan, 38), Raphael Patron Akakpo, Felix Aboagye (Abhishek Yadav, 78).

Mohammedan Sporting: Amar Deb, Syed Hussain (Chidi Edeh, 63), Madhab Das, Satish Bharti (Bungo Singh, 21), Amandeep Singh, Abu Baker Godwin, Bhuvan Joshi, Khalid Siddique (Okoli Onyeka Odofa, 54), Syed Rahim Nabi, Sheikh Sanjib, Dipendu Biswas.

Referee: Benjamin D’Silva (Goa).