Calcutta: Mohun Bagan's championship hopes suffered a body blow as they went down by a solitary goal against Bharat FC with Subash Singh scoring the only goal of the match in the 34th minute at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune.
Bharat FC relegated Surajit Bose to the bench as Manjit Singh came into the side. Steven Dias, Omar Jarun and Syed Rahim Nabi were the other players who made into the first team.
Meanwhile Sanjay Sen, in a surprising move brought in Shilton Paul as the custodian, in place of Debjit Majumder. The attack had a new look as Balwant Singh and Pierre Boya returned from suspension and injury respectively.
It was the home side that began the match the brighter of the two, with Kingshuk Debnath who started in place of Anwar Ali, putting in successive blocks to deny Manjit and Dias in the opening minutes.
Dias was dominant on the right as he took advantage of Dhanachandra Singh's desire to surge forward at every opportunity. In the 18th minute, Dias put in a lovely cross which Manjit met with a diving header, but unfortunately it was straight to a grateful Shilton.
Merely two minutes later, it was Subash Singh who failed to connect after Dias drilled in another brilliant cross at the near post.
Balwant had a glorious opportunity in the 25th minute after Denson Devadas played an inch perfect lofted through ball that found him down the right and it was Arindam who made himself big as he blocked the Indian international's effort.
Three minutes later, it was Balwant who turned provider as he played in Sony Norde but his shot was just wide.
Bharat FC finally had their reward in the 34th minute after Shilton's return to the first team became less than memorable. Shilton decided to bide his time in taking a regulation goal-kick which Subash Singh decided to charge down upon. Pathetic Shilton's hurried kick then hit Subash and went into the net.
In the 42nd minute, Pierre Boya found Sony Norde with a perfect cross but the Haitian's effort was cut out by Arindam. From the ensuing corner, Arindam's fisted clearance went straight to Denson who tried to volley it back to goal, but the goalkeeper managed to hold on to it this time.
It was Mohun Bagan who pressed on for the equaliser after the half-time break and Balwant Singh smashed it over in the 54th minute from inside the box.
Two minutes after the hour mark, it was a superbly timed tackle by Dharmaraj Ravanan that dispossessed Norde in the box as the Haitian was about to pull the trigger. Balwant failed to find the target yet again following a Bello Rasaq header off a Norde corner, that found him in acres of space. He could only shoot it into the orbit.
