Former champions Mohun Bagan rode on a Dipanda Dicka strike in the 70th minute to register their second win of the season over I-League debutants Real Kashmir FC at the TRC Turf ground in Srinagar on Tuesday.
The win takes the Mariners to second in the standings with eight points from four games and kept them unbeaten in the league. Real Kashmir, on the other hand, suffered their second defeat on the trot at home, keeping them on four points from as many and down to eighth place.
David Robertson of Kashmir handed first starts to as many as three players, Khalid Qayoom and Abhash Thapa in midfield and defence in place of Farhan Ganie and Brian Mascarenhas as well as playing Nagen Tamang as an extra midfielder in place of defender Muhammad Hammad.
Mohun Bagan coach Sankarlal Chakraborty opted for just one change, giving defender Dalraj Singh a start in place of Kim Kima.
The game began in brilliant sunshine and to a packed house as has now become the norm at the TRC, but in spite of a lot of energy and commitment shown by both sides, there were no clear-cut chances created in the first 40 minutes of the game.
Mohun Bagan, despite having more possession, seemed to be finding it difficult coming to terms with the conditions and the pitch. It was the hosts who created the first chance of the half when Tamang’s free-kick in the 18th minute saw Scottish defender Mason Robertson meet the ball first with his head, but the timing of the connection made the ball lob over the Bagan goal.
Bagan then got their first chance In the 43rd minute, when Danish Farooq brought Cameroonian Dicka down in a dangerous position outside the Kashmir box. Ugandan Henry Kisseka’s effort from the setpiece was brilliant but missed by a whisker.
The second half witnessed a more frantic start and Kashmir, in particular, began with a lot more purpose. In the 53rd minute, after Sourav Das for Mohun Bagan penetrated past three Kashmir players into the box but could not make much headway beyond that, Ivorian Gnohere Krizo’s long-range effort for Kashmir went just wide.
Then Dicka in the 60th minute, saw a header go just wide after Abhishek Ambekar had put in a cross from the left flank.
The Cameroonian was not to be denied and struck in the 70th minute to give Bagan the lead. Kisekka it was who got hold of the ball on the left flank and found his strike mate in between Kashmir defenders Ravanan and Loveday with a wonderful cross. Dicka made no mistake with his header slotting the ball into the back of the net, wrong-footing keeper Bilal in the process.
Kisekka got a chance to double the lead in the 78th minute, when after combining brilliantly with the goalscorer Dicka, he found himself on the end of a cross in front of the goalkeeper, but the coach’s son Mason made an important timely intervention.
Dicka, the top goal-scorer of the I-League for the past two seasons, scored his third of this campaign on the day to earn the victory in front of 12,760-strong home supporters.
William was replaced in the dying minutes with new recruit Abinash Ruidas with the game all but sewn up.
