Jose Barreto excels as Mariners beat Pailan Arrows

28-Jan, 2012

McDowell Mohun Bagan today beat Pailan Arrows by 2-0 in an I-League match played at the Salt Lake Stadium. Jose Barreto and Jewel Raja scored the goals for Mariners. With this win, Mariners moved to the 3rd position in the League table with 30 points from 17 matches.

Jose Barreto's performance today can be summed up as the saying goes "Form is temporary but Class is permanent." About his performance, Prashanta Banerjee said, "Barreto played good football today, especially in 2nd half, he will definitely improve further after 1-2 matches. Actually he was not fully fit in the last few matches. The goal will surely increase his confidence."

This was, perhaps, the first time this season Mariners played with the full team. Sangram Mukherjee played as goalkeeper. The defense lineup consisted of Surkumar Singh and Rahim Nabi as the right and left backs, respectively, while Kingshuk Debnath and Anwar Ali played at the heart of the defense. Jose Barreto paired with Rakesh Masih in the central midfield area, while Hudson Lima and Jewel Raja operated down the flanks. Sunil Chhetri paired with Odafa Okolie in the forward line.

Mariners started the match in a positive frame of mind, Hudson Lima initiated a move as he essayed a long ball towards Jewel Raja; it was his cross that was headed by Odafa but which was blocked by the Pailan defense. In the next minute, Kingshuk Debnath made a brilliant tackle to avert danger inside the McDowell Mohun Bagan penalty box.

Jose Barreto sent a low cross towards Odafa Okolie who showed great skills as he dodged past a couple of defenders with very little space in front of him but his powerful shot hit a Pailan defender.

Jose Barreto came close to scoring but his shot was nicely saved by the Pailan Arrows goalkeeper. From counter attack, Pailan Arrows also unleashed few good shots from outside the box but none could trouble Sangram Mukherjee.

Odafa Okolie tried hard to score but he was heavily marked and all his attempts were blocked by the Pailan defenders. Hudson Lima took a couple of good shots at Pailan goal but both went straight to Naveen Kumar.

Getting a long ball from Rakesh Masih, Jose Barreto took a brilliant angular shot which was saved by Naveen, diving to his right. Jose Barreto was again in the thick of the action when his header from Nabi's free kick got saved by Naveen again, who fisted the ball out for a corner.

From Surkumar Singh's overhead pass, Odafa Okolie unleashed a left-footed shot but it went sailing over the target. Odafa combined well with Sunil but the former's shot got deflected out for corner.

Jose Barreto made a brilliant attempt to score but his side volley narrowly missed the target, though the referee had blown the whistle against Barreto for dangerous play.

At start of the second half, Kingshuk Debnath received a yellow card; he will miss the next match against Chirag United Kerala which will be held on the 31st of January.

Odafa gave a good through-pass towards Jewel Raja who made a good run to enter Pailan penalty box down the right flank, but his last touch let him down as he could not keep the ball under control.

Ashim Biswas replaced Sunil Chhetri in the 56th minute.

From Lima's corner, Anwar headed the ball towards Jewel whose side volley just went over the crossbar. In the next minute, a Lima-Nabi combination resulted in a good move but the latter's chip over goalkeeper's head just missed the target by a whisker.

Jose Barreto gave Mariners the lead in the 64th minute. Odafa's left footed shot was saved by Naveen Kumar. From the resultant corner taken by Hudson Lima, Jose Barreto brilliantly headed the ball inside goal. This goal reminded us of a couple of goals scored by Technical Director Subrata Bhattacharya for Mohun Bagan during his heydays against East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting.

Rakesh Masih made a stunning move down the left flank and took a left footed shot which was saved by Naveen Kumar who had to stretch himself fully towards his left.

Jewel Raja doubled the lead in the 76th minute. Ashim Biswas sent a delightful through pass towards Rahim Nabi who seeing goalkeeper out of charge, chipped the ball over his head and Jewel Raja who followed the ball nicely pushed the ball inside empty goal.




Mariners made 2 changes in quick succession bringing on Manish Maithani and Dhanarajan in place of Jose Barreto and Rahim Nabi. The only thing that will worry Subrata Bhattacharya is the Rahim Nabi's injury towards the fag end of the match due to which he was replaced. Coach Prashanta Banerjee said, "We might rest Nabi in the next match as he suffered a hamstring injury."

Jose Barreto was awarded the Man of the Match.

After the match, Prashanta Banerjee said, "We have got a full team after a long time and it (the team) will take a little time to set. Now, Nabi got injured today and that would really cause a lot of problem for us."

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