Mariners defeated by MBSFA boys in practice match

McDowell Mohun Bagan today suffered a defeat at the hands of Mohun Bagan SAIL Football Academy team by a solitary goal. McDowell Mohun Bagan though made innumerable attacks, especially in the 2nd half, the goalkeeper of the MBSFA team played his heart out and made many good saves. Mariners also missed few easy chances to score. Prince, a player from Ghana, scored the only goal of the match from a brilliantly executed direct free kick.

A couple of players from Ghana has been practicing in the MBSFA in Durgapur for the last few months. They have come to India as part of an exchange program with Ghana Football Federation. Both the players played in today's match and Prince in particular seems to have a bright future in front of him.

In today's practice match held at the club ground, Santosh Kashyap fielded a team consisting of mainly reserve bench players. With Milton Bhowmick as the goalkeeper, Warundeep Singh and Sourav Chakraborty played in the heart of defense. Rajib Ghosh and Deepak were in charge of the 2 flanks. The midfield consisted of Mohan Sarkar and Manish Maithani in central midfield whereas Arjun Chatterjee and Biswajit Saha played as right and left half respectively. Dipendu Biswas and Bijendra Rai were the 2 strikers in 4-4-2 formation.

The first positive movement of the match came when Bijendra snatched the ball in midfield to initiate a good movement but after a down-the-middle run, his pass towards Dipendu Biswas was cleared by MBSFA defense.

Biswajit Saha twice got the ball in an advantageous position in the left flank, but both times he failed to deliver a good cross.

Mohan Sarkar took a couple of well-directed long ranger left footed shots which missed the target by a whisker.

Prince scored the goal midway in the 1st half from a direct free kick. The shot was nicely placed in the goal with Milton having no chance to make a save.

Manish Maithani came close to scoring but his right footed shot from edge of the box went over the crossbar. He also was guilty of missing another chance when his left footed shot from Dipendu's header went ballooning over the target.

A long ranger shot taken by a MBSFA player hit the crossbar and minutes later Milton made a horrible mistake as he threw the ball towards unmarked Prince. The latter tried to scoop the ball over the goalkeeper's head, but Milton just managed to make a save in the nick of time.

Prince tried to break through McDowell Mohun Bagan defense on few occasions, but Deepak and Sourav Chakraborty made good sliding tackles to avert danger.

Post-breather, Arindam Bhattacharya replaced Milton Bhowmick while Manish Bharghav replaced Rajib Ghosh. Mohan Sarkar moved to the right back position while Manish Bharghav played in central midfield.

Manish Bharghav's long ranger shot went straight to the goalkeeper. Minutes later, the goalkeeper made a double save. Manish Maithani's shot was nicely saved and once again shot taken by Manish Bharghav from the rebound ball was parried away by MBSFA custodian.

Coach Santosh Kashyap then brought Anil Kumar in place of Dipendu Biswas.

Around the half an hour mark in the 2nd half, the MBSFA goalkeeper made 3 back-to-back saves as he prevented shots taken from close range by Arjun, Bijendra and Anil from going in.

Manish Maithani made a nice move down the middle but once again his left footed shot was fisted away by the goalkeeper. From Anil Kumar's pass, Mohan Sarkar's shot ballooned away over the target.

The other Ghanaian of MBSFA, Paul made a good move and came close to scoring, but Warundeep Singh made a good interception.

At the fag end of the match, from Bijendra's cross, Anil's push from point-blank range was brilliantly saved by the MBSFA goalkeeper, who was surely the Best Player in today's match.

While the match was going on, few players spent time in gym whereas Tolgay and Odafa was seen practicing separately.