Jiten Rai goes past Bangladesh Muktijoddha Sansad defenders on way to scoring Mohammedan Sporting?s third goal during their IFA Shield tie at Salt Lake Stadium on Tuesday. Picture by Santosh Ghosh

Calcutta: Mohammedan Sporting made a strong comeback in the second half to reach the last four of the 110th IFA Shield on Tuesday.

Lucky to be trailing Bangladesh Muktijoddha Sansad by just a solitary goal in the first half, the local outfit overturned the deficit to record a 3-1 victory at the rain-drenched Salt Lake Stadium. Mohammedan Sporting will face Myanmar Finance and Revenue SC in the first semi-final on Thursday, with East Bengal and Mohun Bagan clashing the next day.

Muktijoddha?s foreign recruit Dieudonne Kabwa made amends for a missed penalty (seventh minute), 20 minutes later when his header put the visitors ahead. Mohammedan Sporting?s Nigerian import Chukwukei Henry restored parity in the 55th and Raman Vijayan made it 2-1 in the very next minute. Jiten Rai put the match beyond the visitors with a 75th-minute strike.

Heavy rain in the second half made the turf even more slushy, thus making the task difficult for the Bangladeshi outfit, coach Mohammed Shafiqul Islam Manik observed.

Going by their first-half performance, it didn?t look the Bangladeshi outfit would lose the match. Playing short passes and moving the ball around nicely in the middle-third, they easily penetrated the fragile Mohammedan Sporting defence.

A hand-ball by Syed Aga Abdul Wahid inside the box gave the visitors an early penalty. Kabwa?s shot was saved brilliantly by a diving Chinmoy Banerjee. Chinmoy turned saviour on several other occasions in the first half.

The visitors took the lead when Munna was released down the left by a Moni through. Munna?s cross was headed home by Kabwa. Kabwa got a few more chances but failed to find the target.

Mohammedan Sporting swung into action after the introduction of Abdul Rauf Khan. With the heavens opening up, the visitors completely faded in the second session. With Rauf and Amjad Hussain moving up the flanks, the Muktijoddha defence was stretched. The visitors also looked to be struggling with fitness.

Ten minutes into the second session, Mohammedan Sporting got their equaliser, Henry finding the target from the top of the box off a Vijayan pass. The provider turned scorer a minute later. Amjad darted down the right and squared the ball inside the six-yard box. Muktijoddha custodian Aminul Hoque fumbled and the ball fell nicely on Vijayan?s feet who just tapped it in. Jiten Rai, who replaced Zaheer, found the net in the 75th minute from inside the box to seal the home team?s passage to the semis.

In between, Muktijoddha were unlucky not to score twice. A Firoz Mahmud Titu free-kick was beautifully headed by Moni only to be denied by the post in the 68th minute. The crosspiece then came in the way of a well-executed Munna free-kick.

Teams

Mohammedan Sporting: Chinmoy Banerjee, Bidesh Pal, Naushad Moosa, Syed Aga Abdul Wahid, Temjen Kibang, Amjad Hussain, Zaheer Abbas (Jiten Rai, 66), Siddharth Thapa (Abdul Rauf Khan, 45), Raman Vijayan, Chukwukei Henry (Krishna Tudu, 82), Stanley Festus.

Bangladesh Muktijoddha Sansad: Aminul Hoque, Hasan Al Mamun, Razani Kanta Barman, Sylla Fode Bangaly, Firoz Mahmud Titu, Motihur Rahman Munna, Mohammed Arman (Saiful Islam Sale, 75), Rashed Ahmed Pappu, Saifur Rahman Moni, Rokonuzzaman Kanchan (Papel Mahmud, 79), Dieudonne Kabwa.

Referee: P.K. Bose.

Live telecast

Star Sports will provide live coverage of the two semi-finals and final. The telecast will be from 5.30 pm on all three days (Thursday, Friday and Sunday).