Tolgay continues to impress while Anil Kumar and Rakesh joins practice

McDowell Mohun Bagan players had their last practice session today in club ground before they leave for Durgapur tomorrow morning where they will be staying for 2 weeks for a preaseason residential camp.

The players have been asked to report tomorrow at 9:30 p.m. in the club from where they will be going to Durgapur. A total of 29 players were present in the training session today, with Rakesh Masih and Anil Kumar joining practice from today.

Initially, there was physical training session conducted by Mr. Joseph Ronald which included jogging, stretching and some physical exercises. While the other players were doing physical training, Anil Kumar and Rakesh Masih did few rounds of jogging around the ground.

Aiborlang Khongjee who suffered a minor injury on the 1st day of practice session has almost recovered and will resume training in Durgapur.

Chief Coach Santosh Kashyap then divided the players into 2 teams and a match was played using the full field. In the last 3 days, whenever there was a 6-sided or 8-sided match, it was played using half the field.

TOLGAY OZBEY DRIBBLING PAST WARUNDEEP SINGH AND BISWAJIT SAHA

Team Blue consisted of Shilton Paul, Mohan Sarkar, Sourav Chakraborty, Warundeep Singh, Biswajit Saha, Arjun Chatterjee, Manish Maithani, Lalrin Fela, Snehasish Chakraborty, Bijendra Rai, and Dipendu Biswas.

The players who represented Team Green were Arindam Bhattacharya, Rajib Ghosh, Khelemba Meitei, Nirmal Chhetri, Lalrozama Fanai, Manish Bharghav, Denson Devadas, Jewel Raja, Rahim Nabi, Tolgay Ozbey, and C. S. Sabeeth.

In the very 1st minute of the match, from Lalrin Fela's lovely through ball, Snehasish made a good run but his shot was saved by Arindam Bhattacharya.

Dipendu gave Blue team the lead when he nodded the ball in from Arjun Chatterjee's pinpoint cross.

Tolgay seemed to have been pushed inside penalty box but referee Bernard ignored the incident, though minutes later the Green team got a penalty when Mohan Sarkar tripped Rahim Nabi. Tolgay placed the ball inside goal from spot kick.

Jewel Raja took a long ranger powerful shot but unluckily for him it hit the crossbar and went out.

Tolgay then scored a stunning goal to give Green Team the lead. From Sabeeth's pass, Tolgay made a good run down the left side, cut in and took an angular shot that went inside goal past the outstretched hands of goalkeeper.

Tolgay could have scored his hattrick soon after but his shot was nicely saved by Shilton Paul.

After the break, coach Santosh Kashyap made few replacements in both teams. Naveen Kumar and Milton Bhowmick replaced Arindam Bhattacharya and Shilton Paul respectively. Deepak came in place of Biswajit Saha while Arjun Chatterjee was replaced by Nirapada Mandal.

Milton made a very good save when he came out of charge and cleared the ball before Tolgay could pounce on to the loose ball.

Bijendra Rai missed a very good chance for Team Blue; however, Manish Maithani then made the scoreline 2-2. Green Team defence failed to clear the ball properly and Manish Maithani took a right footed shot from outside the box which went in.

Lalrinfela gave a nice through pass towards Deepak who passed the ball to Snehasish. The latter's shot narrowly missed the target.

Bijendra Rai scored the 3rd goal for Team Blue. After he got a through pass from midfield, he made a good run and pushed the ball past onrushing Naveen Kumar inside goal.

However, the match ended in a 3-3 draw when Milton conceded a soft goal. He failed to stop Manish Bharghav's long ranger shot as it bulged the net.

Coach Santosh Kashyap said, "Tomorrow we are going to Durgapur for 2 weeks residential camp. Our main aim there will be to build a team combination. We have a lot of talented players in our team. As of now, we will not be playing any exhibition matches there. We might have some sand training there in Durgapur near river Damodar."