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| Raman Vijayan watches Port Trust goalkeeper Sandip Guha grip a Rajib Ahmed cross inside the line, resulting in Mohammedan Sporting’s goal at Kalyani on Sunday. Picture by Gautam Bose |
Calcutta: The aftermath of a team’s setback in a marquee match is usually two-fold: either you let the disappointment carry over to the next game, or you carry conviction in overcoming the problems and set the ball rolling again.
Sadly, Subhas Bhowmick’s Mohammedan Sporting preferred to take the first path and continue living in the shadow of their 2-4 loss to East Bengal three days ago.
They somehow managed to escape with a 1-1 draw against Calcutta Port Trust in the Sahara CFL Premier Division match at the Kalyani municipality ground on Sunday, but were once again exposed to those very traits which characterised their downfall against East Bengal: A slow-moving defence, lack of creativity in the midfield and an immobile upfront.
While Sunday’s result gave Port Trust a breathing space in their fight to avoid relegation — 11 points from 10 matches — it made Mohammedan Sporting’s bid for regaining the league title after a quarter of a century all the more difficult. After nine matches, they are now on 16 — same with East Bengal, but Carlos Roberto Pereira’s side has played a couple of games less. Mohun Bagan are following them with 14 points from eight matches.
Mohammedan Sporting took the lead in a bizarre fashion in the 17th minute when Port Trust keeper Sandip Guha claimed a high cross from right-back Rajib Ahmed, but went over the goalline in the follow-through.
Within five minutes, Port Trust set things in order. Their Nigerian recruit Stanley Cyprian — who along with fellow Nigerian Felix Chimaokwu wrecked havoc in the rival defence time and again — beat Douglas da Silva all ends up with a sudden speed and set it up for Pradip Indu to finish from close.
That Port Trust goal, truth to tell, epitomised what made Mohammedan Sporting suffer in the match: Their defence was awfully slow — as if under sedatives — in meeting with the challenge of Port Trust’s Nigerian duo.
There was no playmaker in the midfield, forcing Mike Okoro to shelve his upfront role and instead, being consigned to fetching the ball from the deep and hoping to get the midfield going.
Significantly, a number of Mohammedan Sporting players seem to have passed their prime. Debjit Ghosh fretted and fumed a lot; Douglas was beaten easily by even veterans like Indu, Raman Vijayan remained idle in the attacking third and the likes of Sudheesh Muttath and Sheikh Shahnawaz were inconsistent in linking up with the attackers.
That the referee Pradip Mukherjee turned a blind eye to an appeal for penalty when Man-of the-Match Felix was brought down blatantly by A. Feroz inside the box or that substitute Srikanta Das could not direct the ball into an open net, told a story in harmony with Bhowmick’s luck factor, which helped his side return with a draw.
Chances did come Mohammedan Sporting’s way when Bijen ran down the middle almost unchallenged in the 70th minute and then by dint of a one-to-one with Vijayan, found himself free in front of the goalkeeper. Much to the shock of his teammates, he shot straight at Guha.
Man-of-the-Match Felix, who had played for Mohammedan Sporting two seasons ago and will head for Goa to wear the Churchill Brothers jersey after the league, also maintained that the referee was partial towards the black-and-white side.
Felix also got a rich compliment from his coach when Aloke Mukherjee described him as “the best foreigner after Mike Okoro currently playing in the country.”
Not many months ago, the same Bijens and Douglases used to unsettle the best of defences in a different jersey, but under the guidance of the same coach, especially during the last quarter of the match. On Sunday, they reversed their role, thwarting attacks from the opposite end. Mr Bhowmick must be realising now that time, they are a-changing!
TEAMS
Mohammedan Sporting: Gopal Das; Rajib Ahmed, Madhab Das (A. Feroz, 44), Douglas da Silva, Mir Farooq Hyder (Subhashish Roy Chowdhury, 62); Bijen Singh, Debjit Ghosh (K. Kulothungan, 68), Sudheesh Muttath, Sheikh Shahnawaz, Mike Okoro; Raman Vijayan.
Calcutta Port Trust: Sandip Guha; Rajib Ghosh, Rabindra Nath Karmakar, Chanchal Saha, Akshay Das (Soumen Sarkar, 90+); Mithun Naha (Srikanta Das, 82), Stanley Cyprian, Sanjib Santra (Swarup Dey, 76), Pradip Indu, Simanta Das, Felix Chimaokwu.
Referee: Pradip Mukherjee.
Man-of-the-Match: Felix Chimaokwu.