Mariners split points with Salgaocar in Goa

McDowell Mohun Bagan today was held by Salgaocar to a 1-1 draw in an I league match played in Nehru Stadium, Fatorda, Margao. Odafa Okolie gave Mariners the lead in the 1st half but, Man of the Match, Ishfaq Ahmed equalized for the home team at start of the 2nd half.

Subhasish Roy Chowdhury and Kingshuk Debnath was shown yellow card today and both of them will be missing the next match against Pune FC.

McDowell Mohun Bagan played good football in the 1st half and were unlucky as twice the woodwork came in the way.

Technical Director Subrata Bhattacharya made 2 changes in the starting lineup. Suspended Anwar Ali was replaced by Subhashish Roy Chowdhury while Rakesh Masih played in place of Manish Bharghav.

With Shilton Paul playing as the goalkeeper, Kingshuk Debnath and Subhasish Roy Chowdhury played in the heart of defence while Surkumar Singh and Rahim Nabi were in charge of the flanks. In midfield, Rakesh Masih played as the defensive medio while Sunil Chhetri played his fourth consecutive match as the attacking midfielder; Hudson Lima and Jewel Raja operated down the 2 flanks. Odafa Okolie and Jose Barreto were the 2 man upfront.

In the 2nd minute, Sunil Chhetri send a good pass towards Odafa, but he was dispossesed.

Mariners were unlucky not to score in the 4th minute. From Sunil's brilliant pass, Hudson Lima's cross went over the defender's head to Odafa Okolie whose shot got blocked by Salgaocar defence. From the rebound ball, Jewel Raja and Odafa Okolie took 2 back-to-back shots but both times the shot hit goalkeeper and eventually the ball got cleared.

Sunil's left footed shot from Odafa's pass went out in the 9th minute. Hudson Lima gave a good pass towards Odafa Okolie, but a brilliant tackle from Salgaocar defence averted danger.

From counter attack, Salgaocar players took few shots from outside the box, but none of them could test Shilton Paul.

Odafa Okolie gave Mariners the lead in the 23rd minute. Rahim Nabi made a good move down the left flank, cut in, made an angular run and then passed the ball to Odafa inside opponent box. Odafa dribbled past 3 players before taking a right footed shot that bulged the net past the outstretched hands of the goalkeeper.

Soon after, Kingshuk made a stunning clearance as he cleared the ball via bicycle kick, otherwise it could have been dangerous for McDowell Mohun Bagan goal.

Odafa Okolie was once again in the thick of action in the 32nd minute. Getting a good pass from Sunil Chhetri, Odafa nicely got past 1 defender before taking a powerful shot that unfortunately ricocheted off the post.

From Ishfaq's pass, Francis' shot from edge of the box went over the crossbar.

In the fag end of the half, twice Mariners came close to scoring. Jose Barreto's left footed shot hit a defender and went out. Minutes later, Sunil played a wall pass with Barreto but Sunil's left footed shot from close range hit the post.

Salgaocar equalized in the 1st minute of the 2nd half. Maxime Belouet's long through pass found unmarked Ishfaq Ahmed. With McDowell Mohun Bagan defence caught napping, Ishfaq made a good run before placing the ball inside goal.

Rahim Nabi sent a gem of a cross towards unmarked Jewel Raja who completely made a mess of it and this prompted Subrata to immediately replace him with Manish Bharghav.

Hudson Lima took a brilliant direct free kick, after Odafa was brought down outside Salgaocar box, which was saved by Karanjit Singh diving to his left.

Rakesh Masih made a couple of bad mistakes in the match which could have been very costly for his team, both times he awkwardly fell down in the midfield, thus losing possession of the ball.

In the 63rd minute, Snehasish Chakraborty replaced Hudson Lima.

Biswajit Saha took a nice left footed shot but Shilton nicely collected the ball. Salgaocar kept pressing hard in the 2nd half and they were attacking mainly down the middle, and Bablu da made a good change bringing on N. P. Pradeep in place of Jose Barreto. Sunil Chhetri moved upfront while Pradeep's introduction helped Mariners to settle their midfield a bit.

Sunil Chhetri appealed for penalty in the 85th minute when he seemed to have been brought down inside Salgaocar box, but referee ignored the incident.

Mariners had a lucky escape when a cross from the right side took a deflection off Subhasish's leg and almost went in.

In the last minute of the match, Milagres' head narrowly missed the target.

After the match, coach Prasanta Banerjee said, "We dominated the first half and should have scored few more goals, but in the 2nd half we allowed our opponents to settle down and dominate the match. Our midfield could not play to their potential after the lemon break."

McDowell Mohun Bagan team will be returning to Kolkata tomorrow night. They will play their last match of this edition of I league on the 6th of May against Pune FC in Salt Lake Stadium. The schedule of the last match of Kolkata Premier League against Prayag United has not yet been finalized by IFA.

View Match Photos