Kolkata: In his inimitable style, Sukhwinder Singh, the former India and JCT head coach, would say that 90 minutes is too long a time to play for a draw, stretching out the vowels in long and draw. It is a lesson Chennaiyin FC would have learnt here on Monday evening. They had one plan: to suffer, and it was never going to be enough.
The best way to defend a 1-0 lead is to score another, Mohun Bagan coach Sergio Lobera maintains. For the second time in as many matches in ISL12, Mohun Bagan have done that, this time through goals on either side of half-time from Jamie Maclaren and Dimitrios Petratos in the 2-0 win.
Chennaiyin had come to the Salt Lake stadium willing to let Mohun Bagan have the ball and try to protect their goal any which way. Anirudh Thapa’s shots were repelled by bodies in the penalty area. A clash of heads between Mehtab Singh and Mohammed Nawaz took the latter out in the 32nd minute forcing coach Clifford Miranda to introduce goalkeeper Samik Mitra. That Mitra had scored Chennaiyin FC’s only goal in the Super Cup, against Dempo, told the story of the two-time ISL winners when it came to attacking prowess.
Mitra didn’t score in Kolkata, far from it, and Chennaiyin FC had only two touches in the opposition box. Preferring to go sideways meant Chennaiyin FC had little going forward. The only time Mohun Bagan goalie Vishal Kaith was called into action was in the 23rd minute when he thwarted Alberto Noguera’s attempt to lob him.
When the visitors did go forward near half-time, Inigo Martin had no teammate to help and four Mohun Bagan players around him. The Spanish forward won a free-kick which went nowhere and Mohun Bagan scored soon after.
For all of the first half, Mohun Bagan had tried sending crosses which with a combination of luck and pluck, Chennaiyin FC repelled. Except when Liston Colao cut in and hit the upright but Maclaren was flagged off-side for interfering with play.
Chennaiyin FC had no answer when Thapa, a former captain, won possession near the centre circle and played a pass along the floor that took out the midfield and caught Elsinho, the Brazilian centre-back, a step behind Maclaren. The Australian didn’t need a second invitation, going around Mitra. At 45+3 and after camping in the rival half, Mohun Bagan had finally broken the deadlock.
Maclaren could have intensified the race for the golden boot with East Bengal’s Youssef Ezzejjari but his third goal of the season didn’t come. Instead, after some early flourish in the second half, the home team scored through Petratos in the 66th minute. Again, it was after Mohun Bagan had won the ball in the middle, this time through Lalengmawia Ralte. Ralte found Petratos and the Australian played to Liston Colaco who switched play with a long ball to Subhasish Bose.
The Mohun Bagan left back curled his delivery and having ghosted into the box, Petratos wonderfully cushioned the ball into goal. Cue the scatter-gun celebrations. Mohun Bagan fans, over 22,000 of whom had turned up for this match, had seen so little of him last term because he was not someone Jose Molina, Lobera’s predecessor, used often.
There could have been more, but Mitra denied Jason Cummings at the near post after Manvir Singh shot out. Like many teams after a long off-season, Chennaiyin FC are clearly not ready yet. Mohun Bagan are. Early in ISL12, the defending champions and their arch-rivals East Bengal have shown that it could be a two-team race for the title.
