George Telegraph goalkeeper Swarup Das foils a Mike Okoro move at the Salt Lake Stadium on Thursday. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta: Mohammedan Sporting kept up the pressure on league leaders Mohun Bagan by defeating George Telegraph 1-0 in a Sahara CFL Premier Division tie at the Salt Lake Stadium on Thursday. Having played an extra match, Mohammedan Sporting are now on equal terms (23 points) with the green and maroon brigade.

Raghu Nandy would have come into the match hoping to pick up all three points given the way his boys had comprehensively outplayed Mohammedan Sporting in their first leg tie (beating them 3-1 at the rain soaked Barasat stadium). His counterpart Shabbir Ali had limited options to boot, missing key players such as Theodore Sunday, Naseem Akhtar, Sheikh Azim and Mir Farooque Hyder. Predictably, the black and white brigade were made to sweat it out till the 82nd minute before Mike Okoro saved the day with a left footed volley.

Anyone hoping for a repeat of the beautiful football the two sides played in the first leg would have been disappointed. Lack of understanding, array of miss passes and shots miles off target were the order of the day as both sides failed to convert their chances. After an initial Okoro flicked header that troubled Swarup Das in the George Telegraph goal, it was the men in mustard that had the better chances.

Foreigners Freebone Ipekere and Maduako Francis troubled the makeshift Mohammedan Sporting defence, with Freebone’s shot in the 38th minute being cleared off the line by a combination of debutante ’keeper Manas Barua and Vinu Jose.

Shabbir Ali’s boys were awarded a further lifeline when opposition midfielder Gopal Debnath struck the woodwork after ghosting past the hesitant defence and rounding off the sprawled ’keeper.

Substitute Gautam Thakur had a large role to play in setting up Okoro for the winner. Thakur’s run down the left flank dragged two defenders away and his cut-back found an unmarked Okoro, who placed the ball into the net with great precision.

A power-cut held up the proceedings for 19 minutes in the second half. The stadium was plunged into complete darkness for six minutes before the lights came back slowly.

TEAMS

Mohammedan Sporting: Manas Barua, Rajib Ghosh, Vinu Jose, Subhas Mondal, Bijoy Das, Satyajit Bose(Gautam Thakur, 67), Lalchhuan Awma, Roque Barreto (Sovan Chakraborty, 78), Kongriekham Duidang (Tapan Giri, 23), Jothi Kumar, Mike Okoro.

George Telegraph: Swarup Das, Suman Dey, Safar Sardar, Debkumar Sashmal, Biswajit Saha, Suva Kumar, Gopal Debnath, Pradip Roy, Beokhokhei (Mithun Saha, 79), Freebone Ipekere (Swapan Mandi, 83), Maduako Francis

Referee: Biplab Poddar

Man of the Match: Mike Okoro