Raman Vijayan shoots in the matchwinner at the Salt Lake Stadium on Monday. Picture by Santosh Ghosh

Calcutta: Mohammedan Sporting launched their Premier Division campaign on Monday with a solitary goal victory against George Telegraph, but that was not enough to warm the hearts of the few thousands who made it to the Salt Lake Stadium.

Biswajit Bhattacharjee’s men huffed and puffed for most of the match and, in the end, it was substitute Raman Vijayan’s solo effort that fetched them the matchwinner two minutes before the scheduled close.

Mohammedan Sporting were down to ten men in injury time when Amjad Ali Khan was marched out following a second booking for rough play. Amjad, meanwhile, had also injured his toe badly and had to be stretchered off.

“It was lucky victory. The match was destined for a draw and the three points should be treated as a bonus,” conceded Biswajit after the match.

Mohammedan Sporting struggled to shed their opening match jitters in the first session. Too many mispasses and square passes spoiled the action in the midfield. There was very little to say for them until the 44th minute when Abdul Qadir and Mohammed Nadir took turns to fail to push the ball into an empty net.

George nearly took the lead in the 35th minute when Umesh Sarkar’s cross from the left found two of their players unmarked in the penalty box. None, however, managed to head it past Gopal Das.

The arrival of Raman at the start of the second session changed things. He found an able ally in Jiten Rai whose hard work helped in opening up the rival defence.

In the 72nd minute, Raman’s header of a Gautam Debnath cross was acrobatically saved by Uttam Patra in the nick of time. The goal was a result of Raman’s superb anticipation and judgement. With three defenders in close proximity, he shielded them in superb fashion before controlling the ball and managing to nod it beyond the reach of the goalie.

The midfield, though, is bound to cause Biswajit sleepless nights. With no snatcher available, it could be one way traffic against better placed opponents.

TEAMS

MOHAMMEDAN SPORTING: Gopal Das, Kabijit Khotel, Madhab Das, Gautam Debnath, Satyajit Bose, Suman Datta (Adil Qadir, 61 min), Madhusudhan Majumder, Amjad Ali Khan, Jiten Rai, J. Malswama (Mohammed Nadir, 35), Abdul Qadir (Raman Vijayan, 54).

GEORGE TELEGRAPH: Uttam Patra, Mohan Chakraborty, Shyam Mondal, Binod Mal, Hironmoy Mistri, Kishor Mallick, Swaroop Chatterjee, Sanjib Santra (Sanjay Majhi, 88), Subhasis Bhowmick, Umesh Sarkar (Hemu Adhikari, 78), Amit Biswas.

Referee: Udayan Halder.