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McDowell Mohun Bagan were held to goalless draw by defending champions
Salgaocar SC in a crucial I-League match at the Salt Lake Stadium. Courtsey the result, Bagan move to 21 points from 11 matches, while Salgaocar move to 13 points from same number of matches.
Bagan who missed a number of their key players due to injury couldn’t capitalise on the home advantage. Bagan started with Ashim partnering Odafa Okolie upfront but there wasn’t much cohesion in the midfield.
On the other hand, Salgaocar depended a lot on Edeh with Ryuji Sueoka playing the perfect foil to him from a withdrawn position; a result of which Salgaocar looked more threatening in the first 20 minutes. But they were not able to finish it off – invariably muffing from close or failing to get past Bagan goalkeeper Sangram Mukherjee.
Sueoka should have put them in the lead in the 35th minute but his shot went wide and then in the 41th minute, Biswajit failed to place the ball in the net with Sangram out of position.
In the 2nd half, both teams went out for the elusive goal. As they pressed hard, Salgaocar got three free-kicks but weren’t able to capitalise. The best chance came in the 73rd minute when Francis failed to get it past a diving Sangram. Sangram again came to the rescue of his team when he thwarted substitute Anthony Barbossa in the 86th minute.
For Bagan, captain Jose Barreto did take the field in the last twenty minutes but wasn’t able to make any impact. Barring two long-rangers from Odafa in the first half, the Green and Maroon didn’t have much to boast about in the match.
Chidi Edeh was declared the Man-of-the-Match.
