With this victory, after 18 th Round ,Churchill move to the top with 36 points while Mohun Bagan lie on 33 after playing 17 matches. 17th Round match between Dempo and Mohun Bagan will be held later.

Upto first half Mohun Bagan was ahead for controlling ball possession but after break Goans had more of the ball possession than Bagan.Bagan drew first blood through their Brazilian recruit Jose Ramirez Barreto in the 28th minute. Churchill equalised at the stroke of half time 45' + 2 ' through captain Okolie Odafe.

The Goans played a more attacking game after lemon break and took the lead in 57th through Ogba Kalu, who also netted the third in the 77th minute.

For leading the team with his outstading playing and 2 vital scores for Team Ogba Kalu of Churchill has been selected Man of the Match today.

Churchill Captain Odafe Okolie scored one goal today and upto end of 18th Round of Game he is currently the top scorer with 21 Goals (played 17 Matches).

Churchill Brothers : 29-Arindam Bhattacharya, 9-Ogba Kalu (37- Ashely Fernandez), 19- Gouramangi Singh, 4- Rowilson Rodriguez,17-Robert Lalthalma, 12 -R.Vassum, 11-Khemtang Paite (35-T.Bineesh),8-Naoba Singh, 15- Chandam Singh(3-Warundeep Singh), 7-Felix , 10-Odafe Okolie

Bhowmick’s men were finally able to exorcise the demons of Mohun Bagan. The “green-and-maroons” had become somewhat of a “hoodoo” team for East Bengal in the recent past, not tasting defeat in the last nine encounters. Added to that was the fact that Karim Bencharifa’s wards were on a real high in the ongoing I-League. They had won their last ten games on the trot, an achievement good enough to warrant FIFA’s attention. But for East Bengal, it was a case of “cometh the hour, cometh the man!” If Bhowmick was the man dictating terms from the sidelines, it was his players who carried out his plans admirably on the pitch.

In the 14th minute, it was East Bengal’s turn to raid the rival citadels. The raider in question was Yusuf Yakubu, whose nifty footwork almost created something for his side. But, the danger was cleared by the Bagan defence. In the 17th minute, Barreto managed a header off a free kick from Marcos. But, Abhra Mondal was upto the task, saving the header for a corner. In the 20th minute, EB got a corner as a result of a good move from Sunil Chetri and Yakubu. But there was no damage done as Sangram Mukherjee saved for another corner. The resultant corner in the 21st minute brought rich dividends for Bhowmick’s side. An unmarked Syed Rahim Nabi breached the Bagan defence to head in Renedy Singh’s corner to make it 1-0 for EB.

With their tails up, the “red-and-gold” brigade kept possession of the ball more often and also started playing better football. Yakubu’s trickery with the ball at his feet made life difficult for the Bagan defenders. It was from a free kick in the 40th minute, that East Bengal doubled their lead. Once again it was the Renedy-Nabi combination that dealt the killer blow. So, at the lemon break the EB fans had plenty to cheer about as their side took a 2-0 lead.

But the joy was soon to be doubled. In the 47th minute, Nabi’s pass found Chetri inside the rival penalty box. Chetri made no mistake in coolly slotting it past Sangram. The scoreline now read EB-3, MB-0. Even the most ardent EB fans couldn’t believe what they were witnessing. But the thirst of victory seemed insatiable for the “red-and-golds.” It seemed as if they were toying with their rivals. Yakubu was wreaking havoc, courtesy of his nifty footwork and the Bagan players seemed clueless. More pain could have been inflicted upon Bencharifa’s men. But that wasn’t to be, thanks to some excellent defending on the part of MB and also due to some profligacy in front of goal by the EB strikers. When the final whistle sounded, the stands were burning bright with flames, and yes, they had certainly had a “red-and-gold” colour attached to them.

It has been a real long wait for the EB fans. But now they can once again hold their heads high. The I-League is certainly a bridge too far, but victory against MB is always sweet, and it’s even sweeter when it comes after a long gap. For MB, this defeat will certainly be a setback. Bencharifa will certainly have to put a brave front and dismiss this humiliation as an aberration. Otherwise, their title hopes could very well be jeopardized. The Bagan victory juggernaut has been halted. It remains to be seen whether the “green-and-maroon” boat can overcome the obstacles to crown themselves in I-League glory. For the “red- and-gold” brigade, though the party just seems to have begun, no matter where they finish in the I-League standings!

M.Mohun Bagan :1-Sangram Mukherjee; 5-Habibur Rehman (19- Tulunga), 14-Peter Odafe, 3- N.S.Manju, 4-Deepak Mondal; 16-James Singh Sr.(9-Lalam Puia), 20-Rakesh Masih (37-Lal Kamal Bhowmick), 30-Marcos Pereira, 11-Ishfaq Ahmed; 10-Barreto ,15-Baichung Bhutia ,

Chirag Defender Bidemi Daniel scored the loan goal in the 38th minute off a measured pass from Snehasish Chakraborty ffrom left flank.

With this win Chirag United improved their tally to 19 points and 7th position while JCT remained at 17. Chirag will play against Sporting GOA on 27th Feb, Mohammedan S.c on 7th March,Mohun Bagan on 23rd march,Dempo on 28th march and Mumbai F.C on 1st April while JCT will next meet Churchill Brothers on February 26.

Mohun Bagan got the first chance when Ishfaq who ran down the left and then cut back in and took a left footer which Naseem and stretched fully to his right and saved a certain goal. From counter attack, Suraj Mandal got a half chance when he could not connect a center from right side. After unsatisfactory performance in last match, James Singh had a brilliant game today and he scored the only goal of the match in 14th minute. From Odafe long throw, Barreto gave a back pass towards James Singh who in turn took a shot from outside box that deflected off Gurpreet Singh and went inside goal making it 1-0 in favor of Mariners.

James Singh was crossing the ball nicely today and few minutes after the goal one of his crosses found Barreto inside box but unluckily the latter's head went straight to Naseem. Then in 30th minute, Ishfaq missed a sitter when Barreto made a brilliant solo run, entered the box and gave a pass towards Ishfaq who had only Naseem in front of him but hit straight to him. For last 15 minutes of the half, Mohammedan also got their chance when from a missed clearance by Bagan defence, Adebayo got a chance to take a shot from good position but shot wide. In another attack, Suraj Mandal nicely dribbled past few Bagan players and gave a pass to Okero whose shot went over crossbar. After the goal, Ishfaq and James switched flanks and then in 42nd minute, it was James again but this time in left flank when Rakesh gave a through pass to James who delivered a cross which Rakesh jumped and headed nicely but went straight to Naseem. Within minutes, a free kick from Adebayo curled and went to Azim whose head went out from close. Rakesh Masih today was a little out of form compared to the performance he had given in recent past.

In 2nd half, Mohammedan fought hard and tried to score the equalizing goal but Sangram and his defence stood firm and averted danger. Suraj Mandal and Okero played quite well today and the former took a long ranger which went over post in 54th minute. In 57th minute, from a James cross, Baichung won the aerial battle with Naseem and nicely back headed the ball but nobody was there inside box to capitalize on the chance. In 60th minute, James made his solo run once again down the right flank and crossed the ball which Baichung gave a false run and Barreto unleashed a thumping shot which unluckily hit straight Sporting defender and went out for corner. Mariners had a lucky escape then from a free kick when Suraj dived to head a ball which Sangram made a timely clearance. From counter attack, Ishfaq gave a pass to Baichung whose left footed shot from outside box deflected for a corner. Sabbir Ali then made 2 subsitutions bringing Prashanta and Vimal Pariyar in place of Gautam Thakur and Jothi Kumar.

In 74th minute, from a corner, Eugene Gray took a shot from close range which went straight to Sangram who fumbled with the ball but Deepak cleared the ball for safety. Mohun Bagan who was relying on counter attack in last quarter of the match got a chance when James gave a nice through to Marcos who had a look at the goal but his shot went over cross bar. In 80th minute, Baichung who played exceptionally well today snatched a ball dropping back and dribbled past 3 players but unfortunately his pass was intercepted well by Sporting defence. Kareem substituted exhausted James and Baichung and brought in Tulunga and Lalkamal. Mohammedan put relentless pressure for last 10 minutes or so but Mariners defence put up a brave fight and did not allow them to equalize.

In 89th minute, Adebao took a shot from outside box but it soared high over bar. In injury time, Suraj Mandal, who had a tremendous game today, took a left footed shot which just went out though Sangram had the post covered. The match ended 1-0 in favor of Mohun Bagan. Sheikh Ajim was adjudged Man of the Match. It could have gone to James Singh or Suraj Mandal also. Mohun Bagan thus registered their 10th consecutive win and are now in top of league table with 33 points. Mohammedan Sporting on the other hand now has 13 points from 15 matches and are in 11th position in the table.

After the match, Sabbir Ali said, "We played well today but again due to missed chances we lost the match. We congratulate Mohun Bagan for the victory. Refereeing was not at all good today and quite a few decisions went against us today. We have to win matches and I am hopeful that my boys will play like this and we will not face relegation."

On the other hand, Kareem congratulated Mohammedan for having a great match. Unlike many coaches who does not like to give credit to opponent coaches, Kareem said, "I think this was one of the best matches played by Mohammedan. They really played well and if they continue with this performance, they will not face relegation. Nothing to take away from my boys. This is our 10th win in a row and I am happy with my team's performance. Yes we were not consistent enough today and made few errors but defence and goalkeeper played really well.

We also got quite a few chances to score." When asked which one he would cherish more on his birthday, the 10-match win in a row or the Federation cup win, he said "Winning trophy is always important. The 10 match win will not be of any significance if we fail to win the I league."

Mohammedan S.C :: 1-Naseem Akthar, 6-SK Azim, 23-Rajib Ghosh, 19-Gurpreet Singh,17-Wasim Feroze, 26-Goutam Thakur, 20-Adebayo Adewusi, 15-Eugene Gray, 14-Suraj Mondal,27- Jyothi Kumar ( Vimal Pariyar), 10-Mike Okoro

Defender of Chirag Bidemi Daniel scored in the 25th minute in the first half when Bidemi’s grass-kissing shot go into the rival net after getting it from a rebound Sankar Oraw's header off a Malswama Coner kick.

Air India, reduced to 10 men from 81 minutes when their forward substitute Emmanuel Ovieghara received marching orders for a foul to Chirag's bidemi. Air India tried for the equaliser, but their Forward S.Subhas Singh missed several chances.Emmanuel’s header was saved by Chirag Keeper Gopal Das, six minutes before the final whistle Chirag Keeper again blocked Air India's Michale Tayo’s effort.

Air India:1-Swarup Das, 6-Uttam Singh, 26-Amritpal Singh, 29-Chukwuma Udofia, 2- Napoleon Singh (22-Surojit Roy), 3-Ravinder Singh (25-Emanuel Ovieghara), 14-Gouranga Biswas, 28-Michael Tayo, 10-Soccor Velho, 12- Subash Singh, 23-Kailash Patil

Starting from the match East Bengal played long passes with a good control and pace and put pressure on the Vasco defence.With in a few minutes of starting Yakubu's shot hit post after beating Vasco keeper Kattimani.

East Bengal took lead in the 28th minutes through Sunil chhetri when a move on the right saw Yakubu taking a shot at the goal which Vasco Keeper managed to block, but the deflection went to Sunil Chettri who easily netted the ball .In the first half East Bengal was leading by 1 - 0.

Yakubu increased the lead for East Bengal just one minute after the lemon break, when Vasco keeper misjudged a Renedy Singh's flag kick which Yakubu tapped and scored easily ( 2 - 0 ).

Vasco reduced the margin in 54th minute when substitute Joy Ferrao passed a ball to Nazarov through a back header and Nazarrov drivvled two East Bengal defender in his stride and placed the ball into the net past keeper Abhra Mondal (2 - 1).

Yukubu struck again one minute later when he headed home a well directed cross by Renedy Singh from the left off a pass by Sunil Chettri (3 - 1 ).

Sunil Chettri doubled and increased margin in 89th minutes off cross from substitute Alvito Dcunha ( 4 - 1 ).

The win took East Bengal's tally to 19 points from 15 matches. While Vasco remained at the bottom of the table with 10 points.

Yusif Yakubu of East Bengal has been selected Man of the Match for his outstanding performance.

KF East Bengal : 1-Abhra Mondal, 2-M. Suresh ,27- Surkumar Singh,26-Mehrajuddin , 22-Sanju Pradhan (7-Jayanta Sen),19-Rahim Nabi, 14-Mehtab Hussain, 18-Ismael Addo, 8- Renedy Singh, 11-Sunil Chhetri, 12-Yakubu (9-Alvito D'Counha)

07.02.2009 :S.Mitra :If the first half of the match belonged to Air India, in 2nd half they were mere spectators as East Bengal took control of the game after lemon break.

The first half saw many chances missed by Air India. East Bengal's defence and their new goalkeeper Avijit looked shaky in first half. There was hardly any resistance in midfield with Jayanta having a nightmare of a game. There was not enough flank play also in first half. However, Yakubu and Sunil tried their best. Yakubu was brilliant throughout the match but they were not getting quality passes from midfield. In 2nd minute, Subhash Singh missed an absolute sitter with Abhijit helplessly standing in goalline but Subhash shot the ball straight to his hand. In 5th minute, Sunil gave a back pass to Jayanta in front of Air India box, Jayanta had a lot of space in front of him but hurriedly shot over cross bar. In 9th minute, Sunil took a nice swinging corner that Arup misjudged and Nirmal could not head the ball in an empty goal.

In 13th minute, Air India missed the easiest chance of the match when from a direct free kick that curled and came straight to Udefia who could not connect the ball with goalkeeper stranded in goalline. In 21st minute, Air India's Surojit Roy got a long ball from midfield at the edge of the box, he entered the box but shot wide with goalkeeper completely out of position. In the next minute, Nabi who was brilliant as usual dribbled past three players and gave a pass to Sunil but he took a poor shot. Nabi overlapped well in the match but his defensive quality is not at par with his attacking flare. He would be a much better player in side half than side back.

In 24th minute, there were two controversial decisions taken by referee. First, Air India got a free kick when a decision was given against Nirmal, whereas it should have been given in his favor as there was no foul. From free kick by Ravinder, Emmanuel headed the ball in, linesman ruled Emmanuel offside, the decision was little doubtful as evidenced by television replay. In 28th minute, Yakubu Sunil combination resulted in a great move and Yakubu attempted to take a shot from inside box but Air India defenders made a timely tackle to avert danger.

From counter attack, Rennedy floated a ball nicely towards goal which Arup misjudged again and Yakubu got the ball in far end, he got past one player and tried to lob the ball from an acute angle but it just went out. In 38th minute, from a Socco center, Nabi completely made of mess of it and a very casual attempt at clearing the ball almost resulted in danger but Subhash could not connect the ball. Mehraj was booked for intentionally handling the ball. Just before half time, Subhash Bhowmick made a change that completely changed the complexion of the game by bringing in Sonju in place of Jayanta. Within 3 minutes of resuming after break, East Bengal scored the first goal of the match. Sunil gave a pass to Yakubu who had some space in front of him and he made a solo run, entered the box and took a brilliant right footed shot and Arup had absolutely no chance to save the ball. This was East Bengal's goal after 555 minutes in I league. In 50th minute, Air India got a direct free kick from outside box, Ravinder took a shot that deflected off Nirmal and ball ballooned up off foot of Abhijit, a brilliant save indeed. This save worked wonders for him as in very next minute, he made a brilliant save again diving to the right.

In 56th minute, Sunil made it 2-0. Rennedy gave a long ball from midfield that went to Sunil inside Air India box, Sunil kept his head cool, nicely shielded the ball past defender and goalkeeper and pushed it inside goal. In 66th minute, Yakubu could have scored his second goal but Yakubu's direct free kick hit post. In 80th minute, Sonju Pradhan made it 3-0. Rennedy crossed the ball from left side which Arup fisted half heartedly, ball went straight to Sonju who blasts the ball inside net.

In 82nd minute, Yakubu brilliantly dribbled past 2 players but unluckily could not score the goal as he shot wide. East Bengal dominated proceedings for rest of match but could not increase their tally. 2 minutes before end S.Subhas Singh reduced margin for Air India off a free kick ( 3 - 1 ).OVerall this performance will certainly give confidence to Subhash Bhowmick's boys. Nirmal got yellow card and will miss next match. East Bengal last had beaten Air India on January 29, 2006. Sonju got Man of the Match but Yakubu or Rennedy could have also got it.

Air India: 24-Arup Debnath; 3-Ravinder Singh (23-Kailash Patil), 14-Gouranga Biswas, 2- Napoleon Singh, 26-Amritpal Singh, 29-Chukwuma Udofia ,28-Michael Tayo, 10-Soccor Velho, 22-Surojit Roy (11-Hringsolal Thomte), 12- Subash Singh ,25-Emanuel Ovieghara (20-Suman Dutta),

Sukhwinder Singh's is very much true regarding this point because they lost 0 - 2 against Mohammedan S.C in their away match at Salt Lake Stadium today like their last match against an another relegation fighting team Vasco S.C.

After goalless first half Mohammedan scored their first goal through Jothi kumar whose shot home in the 73rd minute from Suraj Mondol's cross from right flank after being passed by Gurpreet Singh.

The second goal came from Mike Okoro's penalty in the 78th minutes when Jothi kumar was fouled inside box by JCT defender Julius Akpele, who was trying to clear a move. Mike Okoro sent powerful right footer beating Karamjit Singh on his right. Mohammedan Sporting's Jyothi Kumar has been awared Man of the Match.

The win put Mohammedan S.C onto 13 points and JCT remained on 16 With this win Mohammedan Sporting's hope alive to stay in the premier Indian League in the 14th round here this evening.

MOHUN BAGAN CONTINUES ITS WINNING SPREE BY BEATING SPORTING DE GOA

06.01.2009 : S.Mitra ::Mohun Bagan it seems is set to break all records this year as they are now in top of the I league table after winning their 9th consecutive match. Today they beat Sporting Clube de Goa in their home match by 1-0, goal being scored by Baichung Bhutia in 76th minute.

Mohun Bagan lineup was the same as of last match against Air India and started the match in a positive note with Marcos giving a pass to Ishfaq who ran down the flank and delivering a cross which was a little wayward and James could not reach the ball. Sporting coach had said before the match that he will not man-mark either Barreto or Baichung but in reality we saw the opposite. We saw Sporting players continuously marking Barreto and oftentimes bringing him down. In the course of the match, three players of Sporting de Goa was booked for infringement. Sporting coach admitted after match that his main tactics was to cut the supply line of Mohun Bagan by marking Marcos and also not giving any free space to Barreto. In a way, they were slightly successful in doing so in first half but in 2nd half this did not work and Mohun Bagan got many chances to score. Barreto played exceptionally well with 1-2 Sporting players constantly marking him. Regarding tactics of Sporting, Kareem said, "Yes they were marking Marcos and so I asked him to stay more in opponent half, so that he can take one player away from Sporting's attack as in first half they sacrificed one of their strikers who were busy with Marcos. I asked Rakesh to play from deep as Marcos was mostly in opponent half."

Coming back to the match, Wilton Gomes was shown yellow card within 5 minutes for foul on Barreto. In the next minute, Sporting made a nice move when Bibiano got the ball at the edge of the box but his shot went over cross bar. In 15th minute, Mohun Bagan got the first chance when from a James center, Baichung headed the ball which Sporting defence failed to clear and Barreto suddenly got a loose ball and he promptly took a left footed shot which just grazed the post and stayed out. Sporting then dominated the match for about 15 minutes or so, Rakesh Masih and James Singh looked slightly off colored today. In this period, Sporting was easily moving the ball with not much resistance from Bagan midfield but defenders played well and averted danger time and again. In between, Nathaniel took a superb shot from about 25 yards out which Sangram dived to his left and made a great save. Mohun Bagan came back strongly and from a Marcos free kick, Masih almost scored but his head went over cross bar. In first half, Sporting were also successful in cutting down attacks of Mohun Bagan via both flanks as we did not see much of Ishfaq's solo run. Just at the fag end of the half, referee made two controversial decisions. First time, Baichung headed the ball from James free kick which hit post and goalkeeper brought the back to play from inside goal, both referee and linesman overlooked the incident. Television replay clearly showed that the ball had gone in. In the very next minute, Odafe lobbed the ball towards Sporting goal and the latter's defence went up to trap Barreto offside but Baichung, who was not in offside position, ran for the ball and got the ball in open but unfortunately linesman ruled him out offside. Certainly Barreto was offside but Baichung was not. The first half ended goalless with both teams playing well. Sporting really gave Mohun Bagan a run for their money in this half and fought nicely. Another thing which worked slightly in favor of Mohun Bagan was substitution of Luciano who had to be replaced by Micky Fernandes due to injury.

In 2nd half, Mohun Bagan was again unlucky this time as in 1st minute off a long throw from Odafe, the ball hit hand of a Sporting player but referee did not give penalty as he thought it might have been done unintentionally. In 55th minute, Mohun Bagan made a great move via Marcos and Barreto who played couple of passes amongst each other and final pass was given by Barreto to Marcos whose shot deflected for corner from close range. James Singh continued his poor form in 2nd half also and then Kareem made a double change within space of 5 minutes bringing on Lalkamal and Tulunga in place of Rakesh Masih and James Singh. This worked wonders for Mariners as within minutes, Barreto was involved in the best move of the match when he got the ball in midfield with 3 players surrounding him, he nicely dribbled the ball past all of them, shielded the ball nicely and delivered a inch-perfect cross for Baichung who could not head the ball properly. Junior then made a solo effort midway in the half when he took a blistering shot from outside box which Sangram again stretched himself to make another great save. Mohun Bagan was unlucky not to score in 74th minute when from a long throw of Odafe, Marcos back headed the ball and Habibur further deflected the ball off his head which hit crossbar and went straight to Baichung whose head was saved from goalline by Felip. Baichung, however, scored a brilliant goal within a couple of minutes. Lalkamal took a corner which was headed by Odafe in far corner, Barreto tried a bicycle kick but could not connect the ball properly, Baichung who was standing facing his own goal, suddenly turned almost 180 degrees and took a left footed shot which surprised Sporting goalie and went to the back of the net making it 1-0 in favor of Mariners. A great finish indeed from Mohun Bagan captain. Sporting pressed hard for goal in the last stages of the match and On one occasion Junior got a loose ball in box but his side volley went over crossbar. Odafe also made a mistake when he could not head the ball properly and the ballooned up and went straight to Sporting player inside Bagan box but his volley went out harmlessly. Mohun bagan finished the match winning 1-0. Overall the match was a keenly fought match with Sporting de Goa giving a great fight but at the end Mohun Bagan emerged winners and continued their golden run by registering their 9th successive win in this I-league. They now have 30 points from 14 matches and are leading the group table. Sporting de Goa are in 2nd position with 28 points from 13 matches.

After the match, Sporting coach said, "We were unlucky but Mohun Bagan played well. I am not satisfied with refereeing, especially in 2nd half. He did not allow us to move, everytime he was blowing whistle against us. Mohun Bagan did not play that well like their last few matches, they were mainly relying on long balls, it reminded me of Kolkata team's performance say a decade back when their style were mainly via long ball." When asked whether Baichung's head had gone in, he said, "I was far away from the scene and did not see it properly", though surprisingly the incident happened in the half where Sporting reserve bench players were sitting. He still hopes of a comeback when he said, "There are still 7 matches left and we will have to play well to keep ourselves in the title race. Right now, Mohun Bagan, Sporting de Goa and Churchill are favorites to win the tournament but other teams can also bounce back soon."

Kareem looked a little relaxed when he said, "Before the match I had said to you all that this is not the match that will decide who will win I league because of 2 reasons. (1) I knew this match was very important for us, but being a coach my job is to take pressure away from players and I knew if I would have said otherwise, it would have created immense pressure on players by press and supporters. (2) Indeed I believe that though this match was important but not THE important match as now we have still 7 matches left and we will have to continue with the winning streak. I am happy that at least now we don't have to look to other teams for losing points, now ball is in our court. If we win all the matches, we will be champions, no matter who loses or wins other matches. But still we have long way to go, it is like we have to still climb few more mountains and the trophy is hiding behind some mountain (laughing)." He added that he is very much satisfied with his defence and said for a team to win a trophy not only scoring goals but it is also very important that the team should not concede more goals. "You can see in major leagues throughout the world, it is not always the teams who score more goals wins the tournament but it is the team who wins by conceding less number of goals takes the trophy. In the last 6 matches, we have conceded just 3 goals. Just scoring 1 or 2 goals is not important. I know we will score goals but most important factor is not letting in goals", he said. Kareem also praised his players' commitment and admitted that wing play was not that good in this match, "Yes, delivery from the flanks were not up to mark today. I had a talk with James regarding this after match. It was just a off day for him. I am sure he will come back strongly. Both Lalkamal and Tulunga had a great game after they came as substitute, not taking anything away from Rakesh or James. I am very happy with overall spirit of the team. Deepak was complaining of pain in his knee in half time but he still wanted to play and played the full 90 minutes. Such is the commitment of Mohun Bagan players."

MOHUN BAGAN: Sangram, Dipak, Odafe, Manju, Habibur, Ishfaq, Rakesh (Lalkamal 65'), Marcos, James Singh Sr. (Tulunga 60'), Barreto, Baichung (Lalramluaha 93').

SPORTING DE GOA: Felix, Samananda Singh, Mathew Gonzalves, Philip Gomes, Harmanjot Khabra, Wilton Gomes, Viviano Fernandez (Rakshak Naik 85), Luciano (Micky Fernandez 26), Joseph Perreira (Anthony Dsouza 88), Elijah Obagbemiro Junior, Nathaniel Amos

REFEREE: P K Bose (Madhya Pradesh)

31.01.2009 : S.Mitra :Two horrible mistakes by Subrata Pal resulted in Mumbai FC getting 3 points from their match against East Bengal, Mumbai FC won the match 2-1. It is surprising to see that this same goalkeeper performs so well when he is playing for his country. Today apart from the goals conceded, he was very lucky not to let in more goals, as he was shaky from the very start. East Bengal also had their chances but Yakubu, Addo wasted easy opportunities to score. Yakubu's miss was the easiest chance of the match.

East Bengal started the match in an attacking frame of mind with making 3 attacks within first 3 minute itself. From Alvito's free kick, Surkumar shot wide from close and in the next minute Alvito took a brilliant corner which Yakubu headed out. In 8th minute, Mumbai FC made their first attack when Abhishek gave a through ball to Hammond on right flank who ran with the ball a couple of paces but his poor center was cleared by EB defence. In the next minute, Riston took a right footed direct free kick from left side which curled and went over cross bar. In 13th minute, East Bengal got a penalty when Addo was pulled by Kamaljit inside penalty box, referee has no hesitation whatsoeveer in making the decision. Yakubu scored from spot kick by pushing the ball to right of goalkeeper, Kalyan Chowbe making it 1-0 in favor of East Bengal.

In 16th minute, Kuluthungan took a left footed shot from left flank which Subrata Pal could not grip properly and Mumbai FC got a corner. From corner, James headed the ball out with Subrata nowhere around the ball. In 22nd minute, Surkumar took a shot from outside box but it went wide. In 32nd minute, Abhishek's side volley went out from a Parte center. Subrata again misjudged a ball from Hammond's center and could not collect the ball properly but Mehraj cleared the ball for safety. In 41st minute, Subrata this time made a great save by diving to his left when Hammond had taken a rasping right-footer.

Mumbai FC equalized 2 minutes after lemon break when Abhishek headed the ball in an empty goal from Kuttimani center with Subrata Pal completely out of position, a suicidal goal conceded by Indian custodian. In 50th minute, Hammond took a shot from outside box but this time ball goes wide. Subhash Bhowmick made a strategical change bringing on Sonju Pradhan in place of Alvito in 55th minute, though the chance did not actually help East Bengal as Mumbai FC continued to press, especially down the right flank. In 64th minute, a lucky escape by East Bengal when Hammond crossed the ball from right which Subrata hesitated in collecting the ball and Felix's head just went inches over crossbar.

In 67th minute, from a mispass by Mehraj, Kuluthungan took a right footer shot from outside box which went straight to Subrata. In the next minute, Nirmal missed an easy chance when from a Yakubu cross, he could not trap the ball properly and missing a certain chance to score. East Bengal then missed two easy chances to score when Addo and Yakubu both failed to score with only goalkeeper to beat, Addo lobbed the ball which went over crossbar while Yakubu's poor shot went straight to Kalyan. In 75th minute, Riston was injured and he was taken by ambulance to hospital. In 80th minute, from Ambrose's cross Abhishek again headed wide from close range. In 88th minute, Hammond scored the winning goal for Mumbai FC. Alex Ambrose gave a through pass towards Hammond in the box, Subrata Pal reacted late to come out and Hammond came rushing towards the ball and chipped it inside goal, a good finish indeed but again Subrata is to be blamed for the goal. MFC managed to hold on to the lead for the next 5 minutes and thus won the match 2-1.

Subhash Bhowmick today used 3-5-2 formation though East Bengal had not looked comfortable in this new formation in the two practice matches they played again Bayern junior team and Services. In this formation, the side halfs have to agile with their attacking as well as defending part but East Bengal midfielders could not cope up well and though they got few chances but overall performance was not at all satisfactory today. They next play against Air India which will be a home match. Red and gold supporters hope that arrival of Sunil back from Coventry trial would boost up the moral of their team and they will be able to get the much needed 3 points in their next match. East Bengal and Mumbai FC now has 13 and 21 points from 13 matches respectively.

The all important match winning goal for Vasco came in the 67th minute through Lester Ferandes, who was later adjudged the man of the match for his fine performance. Avenging the 0-1 defeat they suffered in the first leg,

The first half, Vasco missed two golden oppertunities when their Uzbekistan forward Rovshan Teshabnev header hit the cross bar and later in the 45th minute Vasco missed another chance when Agnelo D souza's shot landed straight in the hands of Sporting's goalkeeper Felix D Souza.The first half ended goalless.

In the 2nd half Vasco played well and inthe 67th minute Vasco scored the only goal through Lester Fernandes, whose header found the net off a free kick pass from Nazarov .The loan player of Dempo Lester was adjudged Man of the Match today.

25.01.2009 : S.Mitra :Mohammedan Sporting of Kolkata earn a valuable point from Mumbai based Air India as their 12th round I-league match ended in a 1 - 1 draw at the Cooperage Stadium today. With this draw, Mohammedan Sporting were in 11th spot with 10 points while Air India moved into sixth place with 17 points.

In the first half had Airmen dominating from the start of the match and had better ball possession with superior Ball control as compared to Mohammedan.Air India got so many chances to score but they failed to capitalized it. Air India took the lead in the 19th minute when L.Subhash Singh's cross from the left flank directly hitted the 2nd bar and enter into goal.In the first half Air India was lwading 1 - 0.

In the second half Mohammedan Sporting got their equaliser in 60th minutes off a flag kick as the ball rebounded off to Jothi Kumar who was standing outside the box from Arup Debnath and Jothi Kumar shot was perfectly headed by Mohammedan's new foreigner Eugene Gray to score the equalizer.

In the 73rd minute Mohammedan reduced to 10-men as Madhab Das shown his second yellow card of the day for a dangerous tackle . However, Air India were also reduced to 10 men in dying minutes when Michael Tayo picked up his second yellow card and alo out from next Mohun Bagan Match but he was rewarded Man of the Match today for his outstanding playing.

24.01.2009 : S.Mitra : The match which will be remembered for missed chances ended in goalless draw. Chirag missed at least 4 easy chances to score. East Bengal also had their chances when 2 of their shots hit post. Within minutes of start of match, Gouranga missed an easy chance to score when he got the ball in an advantageous position due to an error by Nirmal Chetri but shot wide. Then from a Saumik Center, Sunil headed out from close. East Bengal had more possession of the ball but due to poor performance of midfielders, very few chances were created.

Chirag without the service of Snehasish and Muritala mainly relied on counter attack and created many opportunities to score but it seems their strikers had left their striking boot at home. We have seen before in this I league that Chirag played well but squandered chances galore especially in matches against Sporting de Goa, Churchill etc. Sankar Oraon seems to do all right except the scoring part. In 32nd minute, Denson Devdas missed an easy chance to score. In the next minute, Yakubu took a left footed shot from outside box which went straight to goalkeeper.

In 42nd minute, Hardip Saini who had a good match gave a pass to Gouranga in right flank who in turn crossed the ball towards Sankar but Mehrajuddin failed to clear the ball properly and Sankar got the ball in a scoring position but lobbed the ball over cross bar. East Bengal was lucky with the 0-0 scoreline at lemon break. In 2nd half, coach Subhash Bhowmick brought in Alvito in place of Renedy Singh and East Bengal started taking control of the game. Nabi took a weak shot from outside box that went out. In the next minute a combined move by Sunil and Yakubu resulted in Sunil taking a right footed shot which dipped and rattled the post, a lucky escape for Chirag and the first moment to cheer for East Benga fans in the match. East Bengal then dominated the proceedings but could not score. In 58th minute, Mehtab missed the easiest chance for East Bengal when from a Yakubu pass he could not score with only goalkeeper to beat.

In 61st minute, Sunil took a brilliant shot from outside box which was saved by diving Somnath Khara, who was adjudged Man of the Match. Daniel could have also got the award. Chirag then got a chance when Sankar Oraon shot wide from 6 yard box. In 88th minute, Yakubu's corner swerved and beat goalkeeper but unluckily for Red and Gold brigade, the ball hit crossbar yet again. In injury time of the match, from an Alvito corner Yakubu nicely headed the ball but narrowly missed target.

Coach Subrata Bhattacharya said after the match that with limited resources he is happy with the way his team fought especially in the absence of Muritala and Snehasish. He commented that East Bengal will play better in coming matches and did not want to blame Subhash Bhowmick as he says, "Bhombol da did not get much time to settle with the team."

Subhash Bhowmick on the other hand said, "My team played 40% of what I expected. It is my personal failure that we could not win today. We have to play better. We lacked wing play today and that is why I brought Musa in the later stage. I tested Adou today as in the next match I will not get the service of Sunil." When asked about Yakubu, coach said "Yes, he was not 100% fit but he was so keen to play today that I kept him in starting XI." Indeed, hats off to Yakubu's commitment compared to few other players of East Bengal who spends half the time of the season with injury. Same thing can also be said about Sunil. He tried a lot to score today and did not play a safe game, given that he will be leaving for England to give a trial in Coventry City.

KF East Benghal:: 24-Subrata Pal, 19-Rahim Nabi, 3-Nirmal Chetri, 26-Mehrajuddin , 29-Saumik Dey, 22-Sanju Pradhan (4-Suley Musah), 7-Jayanta Sen, 14-Mehtab Hussain (18-Ismael Addo), 8- Renedy Singh (9-Alvito D' Counha); 12-Yakubu , 11-Sunil Chetri

Mumbai FC’s Felix tried to put pressure on Mohun Bagan’s defence but Deepak Mondal did provided a perfect resistance to his opponents.Mohun Bagan goalkeeper Sangram Mukherjee was consistent as he saved a brilliant shot that came through Riston Rodriguez’s corner.Both the teams were level in the first half.

The deadlock was broken by Captain fantastic and Man of the Match Bhaichung Bhutia in 73rd minute of the game through a splendid flying side volley after ably assisted by James Singh.

This is the time when Mumbai FC lost their temperament and the kolkata team went on to score two more goals courtesy Baretto and Lalampuia in 80th and 82nd minute respectively.

In the other match Baljit Singh’s JCT stunned Holders Dempo.The Goan side lost their game 2-1 to the Ludhiana based team.JCT took full advantage of the home conditions in Guru Nanak Stadium.

Baljit Singh Saini gave the home team it’s first goal in the very first minute of the match.JCT extended their lead in the 17th minute when Eduardo Escobar assisted Baljit Singh Saini to score his brace.

After the first half Dempo came back strongly but was only able to score once via Joaquim Abranches in the 80th minute of the match.Baljit Singh Saini was declared the Man of the Match for today’s encounter.

The Mumbai based team took their points tally to 19pts frm 11 matches compared to their counterpart who are languishing in the bottom of the league table..Mumbai didnt gave their opponent to sniff glory as they went on creating trouble for them.

Mumbai busted the Black Panther guards with 3 superb goals from Riston Rodriguez in 35th minute,Kalia Koluthungan in 44th and through substitute striker Abhishek Yadav in the 58th minute of the game.Not to forget their Ghanaian duo Abel Hammond and Felix Aboagye who went on creating problems for Sabbir Ali's side.

Hammond assisted both Koluthungan and Abhishek Yadav to register the 2nd and 3rd goal of the match as Mohd.Sporting's custodian Achan had a tough time saving a couple of shots from David Booth's strong forward zone.

Mohd.Sporting will now take on Bimal Ghosh's Air India at the same venue on sunday.

Mahindra, scored first in the first half through Mohammed Rafi in the 39th minute when Chidi collected a ball after it rebounded off Dempo goalkeeper VP Satish Kumar hands and lobbed it for Rafi to open the scoring.

In the 49th minute,Dempo found the equalizer through Brazilian Beto when Ranti Martin's powerful left footer rebounded off the bar and an alert Beto headed the ball into the Goal.

Mahindra struck twice in the second Half through Nigerian striker Edeh Chidi and Ivory Coast's midfielder Dridija Douhou in the 78th and 84th minutes, respectively. Chidi scored his second goal of this I-League first phase after receiving the ball from Douhou and Mahindra puts the final nail in the Dempo coffin in 86th minutes when Chidi sent in a cross in the penalty area which headed in by Douhou.

Both the teams were on fire from the very first minute of the match.Dempo have been the better team and had more ball possession.In 7th minute of the match Anthony Perreira’s pass was headed off the target by Ranty Martins.East Bengal also came close but Yusif Yakubu’s shot was well parried away by Dempo custodian Satish Kumar.Dempo kept on attacking but East Bengal custodian Subrata Paul’s performance showed why he is Bob Houghton’s first choice.

The deadlock was broken in 78th minute of the game when Beto and Martins assisted Climax Lawrence to find the net.With this win Dempo moved upto 4th place after 10 matches with 17 points.They are tied with Churchill Brothers in points table but are separated by goal difference.On other hand Stanley Rozario’s troops are languishing in mid table(7th place) with 12 points.Climax Lawrence has been awarded Man of the Match today for his excellent performance.

In the other match that was played between Mumbai FC & JCT in Cooperage today.The home team came back from a couple of goals down to win the match 3 - 2 against JCT.The newly promoted Mumbai outfit continues their dream run and seems to be strong contender for winning this years I-League.

25.11.2008 : A ten-man Chirag United beat Vasco S.C 3 - 1 in the ONGC I-League 10 Tound encounter at the Salt Lake Stadium tooday

Chirag Player Dulal Biswas was shown red card in the 17th minute for a rough tackle on Vasco striker Robson but Chirag played well and led 3 - 0 before conceding a goal in the dying minutes of the match while the first half score was 1 - 0 for Chirag.

In the added time of first half when Vasco defender Fulganco Cordozo, trying to clear Chirag midfielder Snehashish Chakraborty's shot, put the ball into his own goal.

Chirag led 2 - 0 through their Striker Muritala Ali who scored in 88th minute .

Vasco striker Sherzod Nazarov reduced the margin in 89th minute of the match.Chirag Mideo Snehasish Chakrabarty was awarded Man of the Match.

24.11.2008 : S. Mitra :Mohun Bagan defeated Mahindra United 1-0 today in an I league match held in Salt Lake Stadium. Baichung scored the winning goal in 46th minute of the match. The match was very exciting and a fast paced one with Mohun Bagan dominating proceedings. Mahindra started the match in a positive note and first 10 minutes completely belonged to them. In 2nd minute, Pradeep got the ball inside Mohun Bagan's 6 yard box but his shot went wide. In 8th minute, Mohun Bagan made their first positive attack when Baichung gave the ball to Tulunga in right flank but the latter could not pass the ball back to Baichung who was waiting inside box. Mohun Bagan then slowly started controlling the game and in 12th minute from a Odafe long throw, Tulunga took a shot which deflected off Mahindra defence and went to Barreto whose shot was cleared for corner. In 15th minute, Sangram made a costly error when he missed flight and Sushil took a shot which was saved from goalline by Odafe. In 18th minute, Barreto after a solo run took a dipping shot from about 20 yards out but the ball just went over goalpost. In 32nd minute, from a Steven Dias free kick, a misunderstanding took place between Odafe and Manju, Sushil got the loose ball and took a shot which was saved by Sangram. In 40th minute, from a Marcos corner, Tulunga gave a pass to Barreto who missed an easy chance to score with goalkeeper at his mercy. Just before lemon break, Masih chest trapped the ball nicely and it went to Baichung who took a shot but it was very well defended by Pradeep and cleared for safety. Mohun Bagan went ahead in very 1st minute of the 2nd half. Marcos got the ball in midfield and gave a pass to Tulunga in right flank who took a low center that went to Lalkamal in left who took a shot that went towards Baichung inside box. Mahindra defenders could not clear the ball properly and Baichung who was standing with his back towards his goal brilliantly turned and took a low left footer which went into far corner of the post with goalkeeper having absolutely no chance to save the ball, a brilliant execution indeed from the captain. Mahindra coach then made 2 changes in quick succession bringing Chiddi and Paresh. In 58th minute, Mohun Bagan was denied a penalty when Barreto was clearly tripped inside box by Debabrata Roy but referee completely ignored the incident. In 62nd minute, from a Tulunga center, Baichung back headed the ball towards Barreto who shot wide from close distance. Soon after, Steven had a great run down right flank and his center was tantalizingly close as Habibur just managed to clear the ball for corner. In the next minute, Sushil missed the easiest chance of the match but Sangram narrowed the angle and saved a certain goal. In 77th minute, Dipak dribbled the ball beautifully and dissected into Mahindra's defence and gave a pass towards Barreto but he just could not reach and Subhashish made a timely save. Derek Perreira then brought in Rafi in place of Sushil Singh but Mohun Bagan defence played well and denied Mahindra to score the equalizer. For Mohun Bagan, Dipak Mandal and Sangram was shown yellow card and will miss their next match against Chirag United. Referee also gave caution to Sushant Matthew and Debabrata Roy of Mahindra United. Mohun Bagan now has 18 points from 10 matches and are now in 2nd position in the league table with Mahindra only 9 points and placed in 9th position. Mohun Bagan will next play against Chirag on Saturday. Derek Perreira said, "We are playing well but due to poor finish we are placed in the bottom half of the table. Today I thought of using Chiddi as a replacement in 2nd half but the plan did not work. I have to go on trying so that strikers start converting the chances they are getting into goals. I am really disappointed." He refused to comment on refereeing. Karim looked elated and said, "I am very happy with the way the boys are fighting. We have developed a great team spirit and this is an important factor for our 5th back to back win." Marcos Pereira of Mohun Bagan has been selected Man of the Match today

23.11.2008 : Odafa Okolie strikes again and scored his 111th Goals for Churchill out of 102 matches while they beat Mohammedan Sporting in I-League 10th Round match held at Salt Lake Stadium today. After 4 matches Churchill wins again and now they have 17 points in league Table. while Mohammedan Sporting remained in the relegation zone with 9 points. In the first half Mommedan played better than Churchill and lost so many chances to score throrugh their striking duo Mike Okoro and a knee-strapped Theo. But it was misses galore for Mohammedan Sporting in the first half due to Churchill's custodian Arindam Bhattacharyya's excellent playing. Churchill Brothers put pressure from their wing play and long passes from midfield to Mohammedan's penalty area in the 2nd half and picked the win in the 70 th minutes when their midfielder Bineesh Balan's shot came off the side post and Odafa was quick to place on to the rebound ball to the net through a half turn by the side of his markar Madhab Das and also scored his 11th goal in 10 matches as a top scorer. In the last minute substitute Vimal Pariyar of Mohammedan who replaced injured Theo in the 79th minute, came close to equaliser but failed. Veteran Anit Ghosh of Mohammedan S.C was adjudged Man of the Match today.

21.11.2008 : S.Mitra : :Mumbai FC hold Chirag United to a 1-1 draw in an I league match played in Salt Lake Stadium today. Chirag dominated the match and Muritala and Sankar Oraon missed quite a few chances. In 12th minute, Chirag scored the first goal of the match. Snehasish ran down the left flank and his center was deflected off a defender and went to Denson whose shot went straight to Kalyan Chowbe who fisted the ball but could not do it properly and the ball ballooned up and went straight to unmarked Sankar Oraon who did not make any mistake in pushing the ball in an empty goal giving Chirag the lead. In 18th minute, Mumbai FC could have equalized but Abhishek could not head properly inside Chirag box and off rebound Hammond took a poor shot which was saved from goalline by Chirag defenders. In 2nd half, Mumbai FC made two changes bringing on Felix and Peter Siddiqui and pushed more man forward and tried to attack more. Chirag defended well and relied on counter attack. Muritala missed two easy chances when he could not shot from inside box, both times his shot went wide. In 60th minute, Riston equalized for Mumbai FC when his shot deflected off Daniel and went into goal keeping custodian Gopal Das stranded in goalline. In 62nd minute, Muritala gave a pass to Sankar Oraon in box and the latter missed the easiest chance of the match when he shot wide with only goalkeeper to beat. In 64th minute, Anees took the ball inside box down right flank but shot wide. Chirag got few more chances but Sankar Oran could not capitalize on the chances that he got. Chirag appealed for penalty on one occasion when Sankar fell in the box after a clash with Kalyan Chowbe, but replay suggested that the offense was not a grave one to be awarded a penalty. Snehasish was adjudged Man of the Match. Before match, Saurav Ganguly went to Chirag's dressing room to motivate the players for better performance. Indeed Chirag had a great match today but due to poor finish could not get the 3 full points. Later in a Television discussion Chirag's Managing Director Mr. Kaustuv Roy has told that there is a possibility that Team India Former Cricket Captain Saurav Ganguly might play for Chirag against Mohun Bagan on the 2nd leg for a few minutes . After match, Mumbai FC coach, David Booth told, "We were lucky to get 1 point today, we did not deserve to win today, we played really bad, but Chirag did not have the class to beat us." Subrata Bhattacharya said, "I think there is some conspiracy going on against Chirag, may be some people want us to be relegated. In every match, we are being victims of poor refereeing, today also we did not get one penalty, but yes our strikers are also to be blamed, they missed quite a few easy chances to score."

Mumbai F.C hold defending Champion Dempo at home

11.11.2008 : S.Mitra :Defending champions Dempo were held by Mumbai FC at their away match at Mumbai Cooperage ground . The match ended goalless. Dempo dominated the first half and came close to scoring a goal in the 13th minute and 38th minutes respectively through Brazilian Beto and Mboyo, but their efforts fully damaged by Mumbai F.C goalkeeper Kalyan Chawbey. In second half, Mumbai FC came back strongly into the game and put pressure on the dempo defence and ultimately they came close to scoring in the 65th minute just outside the box but Dempo custodian Satish Kumar saved Abhishek Yadav's attempt .James of Mumbai F.C was declared Man of the Match today. With this draw, Mumbai FC have 11 points from 7 matches and Dempo have 8 from 7 matches matches.

Karim wins the Churchill challenge

09.11.2008 : S.Mitra :Mohun Bagan defeated Churchill Brothers 1-0 in Salt Lake Stadium today via Lalampuia goal in 13th minute. Mohun Bagan played a brilliant tactical game and credit should be given to Karim for this win. Mohun Bagan defenders did not give Odafe any chance to take a shot at goal. Whenever he got possession of ball, at least 2 Mohun Bagan players surrounded him and forced him to make errors. However, Odafe Okolie tried a lot and gave few passes to other players but they shot wide. Manju, Deepak and Peter Odafe were rock solid in defence. Marcos and Rakesh played quite well in midfield. Coach Karim said, "I wanted to cut the supply line from midfield to Odafe Okolie and my players succeeded in doing that and so Churchill changed their game plan and in 2nd half they mainly relied on long ball towards our box and our defenders played well to deny Churchill any goal mouth opening." Mohun Bagan started the match with a bang. Within 2 minute, a long throw from Peter Odafe caused panic in Churchill box and defenders cleared the ball for safety. In 6 minutes, Felix ran down the right flank past Deepak and took a center which just went out. In 8th minute, Ishfaq gave a good pass to Lalampuia who attempted a center towards Baichung but Churchill defenders managed to clear the ball. Within 2 minutes, Churchill got a direct free-kick but Odafe's shot went above the bar post. Mohun Bagan scored the goal in 13th minute. Marcos lobbed the ball from center circle towards Lalampuia who was standing in the right edge of the box, the ball went straight over Gourmangi's head towards Lalampuia whose brilliant first touch carried the ball forward before he placed the ball nicely past Churchill goalkeeper into net giving Mohun Bagan the lead. A brilliant pass from Marcos and equaly brilliant was the finish by Lalampuia. Within 5 minutes, Vashum missed a chance for Churchill when a misunderstanding took place between Sangram and Habibur, and Manju made a brilliant tackle to save a certain goal. In 22nd minute, Baichung appealed for penalty but TV replay showed he had dived.

Air India remains their winning streak

09.11.2008 : S.Mitra :Air-India's winning streak on their home ground in this tournament helped them to earn full three points while they beat JCT 1 - 0 and secure second place in the I-League Table with 14 points just behind Sporting Goa. The first half ended goalless.In the 85th minute of 2nd half , Uttam Singh's long throw-in inside the box from right, which was anticipated by Samson Sing and he made no mistake to score the winning goal with his right foot. L.Uttam sing of AIr India was declared Man of the Match today.

CHIRAG BEAT MOHAMMEDAN IN I LEAGUE

08.11.2008 : S.Mitra :In a rather insipid match, Chirag defeated Mohammedan by a solitary second half goal scored by Gauranga Dutta. In the first half, both teams were cautious and did not want to concede any goal and the match mainly confined to midfield. In the very 1st minute, Gopal almost conceded a goal when he could not gather an easy center but Mohammedan players could not capitalize on the chance. In 12th minute, this time it was Mohammedan's turn for a blunder when Adebao almost scored a sameside, while clearing a ball in his own box he miscued a shot and the ball just went above barpost with goalkeeper stranded in goalline. In 20th minute, Chirag missed an easy chance when Snehasish got a ball in right side of the box, he could have shot himself but instead gave a pass for Muritala which the latter just could not reach to put it in empty goal. In 26th minute, Muritala headed the ball in goal but linesman disallowed the goal because of offside, a dubious decision indeed. In 32nd minute, from a indirect free kick, Daniel took a left footed shot which was well directed but just went over post. In 38th minute, Louis was shown card for foul on Okero but the replay clearly showed that Okero had dived. The 2nd half was much more fast paced and both teams went for scoring. Subrata Bhattacharya, Chirag coach said after match, "I had made certain plans today, asked the boys to play counter attacking football, my main aim was to not concede any goal and I told the boys to go on attack in 2nd half mainly, the boys fought very well and played according to my game plan." Indeed, Chirag looked the better team in 2nd half and got more chances to score than Mohammedan. In 60th minute, Okero got a ball in midfield, ran a few paces towards Chirag box and gave the ball to unmarked Theo who lost possession very easily. Within 2 minutes, from a Snehasish center, Muritala passed the ball towards Gouranga by his chest and Gouranga reached for the ball nicely and pushed the ball past Mohammedan goalkeeper to give Chirag the lead. Mohammedan goalkeeper was completely out of position and he should have dived to save the ball. In next attack itself, Gouranga could have scored again off a Muritala pass but referee gave offside, television replay suggested that the decision was a faulty one. Mohammedan then made 2 changes bringing on Jothi Kumar and Lalhriatzuala and went for all out attack. In 72 minute, Okero took a cracking shot from outside box which Gopal saved and Theo could not push the ball inside goal off rebound, though linesman had already raised his flag ruling Theo offside. In 74th minute, Adebao gave a through pass to Theo who again made a mess of the attack. In 77th minute, Snehashish took a direct free kick and the ball swerved nicely but Mohammedan goalkeeper made a good save. In 85th minute, barpost denied Mohammedan the equalizing goal. From a center from left flank, Okero headed down the ball for Adebayo whose shot hit bar. In 87th minute, Daniel made a costly error in his own box and he misheaded a ball, Okero got the loose ball and instead of taking a shot, he tried to dribble past the defender and wasted the opportunity by losing possession. From counter attack, Dulal floated the ball inside box from right flank which Muritala could not connect properly and Mohammedan goalkeeper also failed to gather the ball and Gurpreet made a goalline save. After few brilliant performance by Mohammedan goalkeeper Tharangachan, today he made few costly errors and we will have to see if Sabbir Ali asks Naseem to play as goalkeeper in their next match. Gouranga Dutta was adjudged Man of the Match. Okero played well for Mohammedan but Theo could not match up to his standards. Coach Sabbir commented after match saying, "Theo is little injured and I hope he comes back to form soon. Today we played badly and so we lost the game. Chirag deserved to win today." When asked if he could have brought Jothi Kumar a bit early, Sabbir said, "Gautam was playing very well as the destructive midfielder and was snatching the ball quite well, that is why I kept him so long." Chirag has got 8 points from 7 matches and Mohammedan only 6 points from 7 points and are placed in 7th and 11th position respectively.

Sporting Goa upset Dempo while Vasco shared point with Mumbai F.C

EAST BENGAL AND MAHINDRA MATCH ENDS IN A DRAW

07.11.2008 : S.Mitra :The first half completely belonged to Mahindra with hardly any penetration by East Bengal team in this half. Like last match, today also while warming up before match a key player of East Bengal, Rennedy, got injured and could not play due to muscle tightness and this disrupted the plan of coach Stanly and he had to field Sonju Pradhan in right half position and shift Nabi to left half position. Along with Rennedy, Alvito, Suresh, Dharamjit also missed the match due to injury. Usually Stanly follows a principle of not to keep that player in his team who has missed last day's practice session before match but today was an exception and he had no other option but to keep Yakubu in squad as he says, "I have no other player in forward as Ashim and Edmilson are not fit to play." Stanly really appreciated the dedication of Yakubu and Sunil. Yakubu had the mental strength to stay in field for full 90 minutes keeping in mind that he was in hospital for 3 days and was discharged about 48 hours before match. During match, Sunil became unconscious in 2nd half after a collision with Mahindra player but Sunil also regained consciousness and continued playing. If only Alvito had this dedication, East Bengal might have been back to winning spree. In first half, Mahindra completely dominated and should have scored at least two goals. In 6th minute, Sushil got the ball in open from Chiddi through pass and could have scored but linesman raised his flag and penalized Sushil as offside though television replay suggested that the decision was a wrong one. After 2 minutes, Sonju ran down the right flank and delivered a good center but went straight to Subhashish. In 10th minute, Mahindra missed an easy chance when Chiddi took the ball along right flank, dribbled past Nirmal and passed the ball inside box but both Sushant and Sushil could not connect the ball. In 13th minute, Chiddi took a brilliant shot from outside box that was saved by Subrata for corner. In 16th minute, East Bengal made its first fruitful attack when Sonju got a loose ball in right flank and passed it to Sunil outside box who took a poor shot that went out. In the very next minute, Sushil attempted a back volley which he could not connect properly. In the 20th minute, Kima gave a miss pass to Chiddi who delivered a good center from right side which neither Sushil could connect nor Subrata could gather the ball. Sushil then took the ball from left flank and his center went straight to Sushant Matthew who completely messed up the chance. In 25th minute, Chiddi missed the easiest chance of this half when Sushant lobbed the ball from center circle which went straight to Chiddi inside the box who just had to push the ball past Subrata in an empty net, but he could not receive the ball properly. In 30th minute, another bad decision by referee went against Mahindra when a brilliant head by Sushil was saved from goalline by Subrata Pal and the ball went out but the referee gave a goal kick instead of corner. Mahindra seemed to control the midfield completely at this point as Mehraj, the defensive medio of East Bengal was in awful form and did nothing right. He was thus replaced by Jayanta in 34th minute, the decision should have been taken much earlier. In 41st minute, Sushant got a ball in the right side of the penalty box but he could not receive the ball properly and missed yet another chance to score. From counter attack, just before lemon break, Yakubu should have scored. From a corner taken by Sonju Pradhan, Nabi lobbed the ball from left side to Yakubu who was standing in an open position but could not trap the ball properly and missed a golden chance to give East Bengal the lead.

East Bengal started the 2nd half in a positive note. After match, coach Stanly told that, "By seeing the Mahindra team list, I thought that they would be playing with 4 half but Sushil was playing as withdrawal forward and so they had one man advantage in midfield. My defenders failed to understand this in first half. I tried to give my instruction from side line but due to so much noise they failed to understand my instructions and that is why our team played badly in first half." In 2nd half, East Bengal played much better as compared to first half and the match was keenly contested with both teams getting chances and failing to score. In 51st minute, East Bengal could have gone ahead but Sunil's shot hit the crossbar. The attack started from right flank and Sonju passed the ball to Yakubu who got past 2 players and gave to Sunil who took a shot from outside box which beat Subhashish and hit the crossbar. In 56th minute, a brilliant center from Sonju went straight to Nabi but he could not head properly. Mahindra then made two changes, Paresh and Steven came in place of Pradeep and Douhou. Mahindra went ahead in 58th minute, when Soumik made a costly error in left flank and from Chiddi center, Paresh scored an easy goal, pushing the ball in empty net with the defenders being out of position making it 1-0 in favor of Mahindra. However, within 2 minutes, East Bengal equalized via Sunil goal. From a Yakubu pass, Sunil's crisp left foot drive from a tight angle beat Subhasish and went into corner of the net making it 1-1. In 68th minute, Chiddi centered from from right side and Paresh took a left footed shot which hit post and went out. Soumik then missed an chance off Yakubu pass when he failed to trap the ball inside box with goalkeeper out of position. In 73rd minute, Mahindra missed two back-to-back chances with Sushil and Chiddi missing from Steven and Paresh Center. In 85th minute, Yakubu passed to Nabi who shot wide, yet another chance goes begging for East Bengal. Stanly brought on Gautam Kujur in 88th minute and within a minute he missed the last chance of the match, missing an easy head.

Stanly looked disappointed with the result and is hoping that his team will convert the chances that they are getting. He said, "We are looking forward to AIFF's decision regarding Edmilson, and if AIFF allows us to replace him, we will try to get a foreign striker and hopefully that will end our goal scoring drought. However, I am happy that Sunil who was trying so much at last scored a goal today and the goal was really a brilliant one." Derrick said that he is satisfied with today's performance compared to the last match. "We should have won the match in first half itself. We played so well but our strikers are not being able to score easy goals", he said. Bringing on Steven in 2nd half and replacing Pradip was part of his strategy he said and he brought on Steven and Paresh to press more in 2nd half down the wings. He said, "The third foreigner for my team is ready, he could not play because he fractured his ankle before first match ane he has started practicing now and hopefully he will be seen in action in 1st league itself." Commenting on who will be champions, he said, "League is still open, in every round we are seeing that at least 2-3 matches are ending in draw, so any team can win from here on." Ravanan was adjudged Man of the Match, only the person who selected Ravanan knows the best reason why. It should have gone to Chiddi of Mahindra who played very well and did everything right other than scoring. For East Bengal, Nabi and Yakubu played well. Slowly Nabi is turning out to be an allrounder like Pradeep. Nabi adapts himself to all the positions whether it is striker or left half or right half or left back or right back, a great team man indeed. Similarly for Mahindra, Pradeep today played in a position where he has never played as Ajayan developed chickenpox yesterday.

Mboyo saves the day for Dempo

05.11.2008 : Priyabrata Chatterjee : Mboyo saves the day for Dempo a crucial match of ONGC I-League against Churchill Brothers. People who came to Nehru Stadium ,Goa witnessed a thriller, full of dramatic changes of situations. Through Mboyo Iyomi's Superb hattrick, Dempo held Churchill Brothers to an exciting 3 - 3 draw today which takes Dempo to 7 points from 5 matches while Churchill Brothers moved to 12 from 6 matches. Though the match ended with a draw but both the team played a high quality football to dominate each other. As the first half-an hour was controlled by Churchill Brothers but after that time Dempo started to show their skill and takes the control of the game away from the hands of Churchil Brothers. Churchill scored first in 15th minutes when Khan Thang Paite from the left sent a cross to Felix whose powerful left footer that found the net (1 - 0).After 4 minutes Felix scored again when he received a lob from Robert Lalthalma from the left (2 - 0 ). Churchill Brothers increased the tally in the 32nd minute through Captain Odafa off a ground pass from Ogba Kalu (3 - 0). Dempo did not lose their temperament but put pressure to Churchill defence with long balls and succeeded in scoring two goals before half time with a span of 10 minutes. In 36th minutes Churchill's striker Mboyo Iyomi received a pass inside the box and eluded keeper Arindam Bhattacharya to the far post (3 - 1).In the first half injury time Iyomi scored his and teams 2nd goal through a header off a cross from defender Valeriano Rebello. The scoreline of First half was 3 - 2 on behalf of Churchill. Dempo equaliser in the 75th minute when Iyomi's header off a Noronha corner(3 - 3 ). The clash of the two teams ended with a draw after creating a lot of drama both in the field and out of the field also.

I-League Kolkata Derby ended goalless

02.11.2008 : S.Mitra : The third Kolkata derby in I-league also ended in a draw, the final score was 0-0. Both teams failed to capitalize on the opportunities that they got in the match. East Bengal was in back foot from start as they did not get the service of Alvito, Subrata Pal and Dharamjit in the match, added to this Yakubu suddenly developed fever just before the match, though still coach Stanly kept him in first team. Mohammedan also did not have Azim in their side who played so well in KPL and Theo was not fully fit for the match. Mohammedan started the game in a positive frame of mind and within 2 minutes got their first corner. East Bengal got their first chance on 13th minute when Sunil headed out from a Renedy center. Then a big setback for East Bengal when in 20th minute, Yakubu failed to continue and was replaced by Praveen Kumar. Within minutes, Theo missed a very easy chance off his right footer. In the very next attack, Jayanta took a long right footed shot which just went out. Sunil looked total off form today and he did not get any support from Praveen. Sunil so far in this league has just scored 1 goal and it is high time that he start scoring some goals. In 30th minute, Sunil got a good ball inside box but his recieving was very poor and wasted the opportunity. However, in 37th minute, Sunil was tripped just outside box by Bijay who should have been booked for this offence. Renedy took a direct free kick with his right foot which was saved brilliantly by Mohammedan goalkeeper. Madhab then got yellow card for tripping Sunil Chetry. Just before lemon break, Mohammedan got an easy opportunity to score when Okero's center went straight to Adebayo in the box who had open goal in front of him but failed to trap the ball, thus missing an easy chance.

In 2nd half, within 2 minutes of start, East Bengal was denied a penalty when Anit handled the ball in the box. In 50th minute, Theo Okero combination created magic but unfortunately for Mohammedan the final pass by Theo to Okero was poor. In 56 minutes, Theo should have scored when he missed an 1:1 chance and shot straight to Abhra. Okero was in brilliant form today and he marshalled most of the attacks for Mohammedan. In 70th minute, Sunil Chetry missed an easy header off a brilliant Nabi center and headed the ball straight to Mohammedan goalkeeper. Sonju Pradhan played badly and was subsequently replaced by Dipankar Roy in 73rd minute. In 75th minute, after MSc corner, Mehraj made a long clearance which went straight to Sunil Chetry who chest trapped the ball elegantly and passed the ball to Praveen who could have moved with the ball into the box but instead he hurriedly took a poor shot from outside the box thus wasting yet another opportunity. In 80th minute, from a short corner, Okero beautifully chipped the ball towards unmarked Theo in box but Theo reacted late and Abhra collected the ball. Both teams made a change during the fag end of the match, East Bengal brought Kujjur in place of Praveen and Mohammedan brought Jothi Kumar in place of Goutam but to no avail as the match ended in a goalless draw. Jothi Kumar should have been brought much earlier by Sabbir Ali which could have given Mohammedan chance for more attack. Nabi had a good match for East Bengal and he overlapped quite nicely. Coach Stanly should be thinking more of utilizing Nabi in attacking force rather than in defence. Adabayo also played quite well for Mohammedan. Mohammedan goalkeeper Tharangachan Tungshang got Man of the Match . Easily Okero could have got that award. East Bengal and Mohammedan has got 8 and 6 points respectively from 6 matches. Stanly expressed his anxiousness after match as most of his attacking force is injured and he is looking forward to Yakubu's recovery. He blamed the missed chances for not getting full 3 points. He said since opponent goalkeeper got Man of the Match award, this proves that East Bengal created many opportunities and those were saved by goal keeper. Sabbir Ali is more or less satisfied with the results and he said that with the limited resources that he is having, he is happy with his team's performance and that his first target will be to save relegation.

JCT hold Churchill Brothers

02.11.2008 :JCT and Churchill brothers shared one point each in an exciting match of the ONGC I-league, played at Goa today Churchill Brotherss took the lead in the 28th minute.Churchill Captain Odafe Okolie head home a well directed cross from the right flank by Felix Chimaokwu (1 - 0). In the 2nd half JCT Coach Sukhbinder Singh replaced Amandeep Singh in the place of Baldeep Singh Jr. who equalized in 48th minute from a goal mouth melee off a pass from Jagpreet Singh (1 - 1) . Churchill's Ogba Kalu was declared Man of the Match. Churchill Brothers now have 11 points from 5 Matches while JCT collected 9 points from 6 matches.

Fighting Chirag goes down to Sporting de Goa

01.11.2008 : S.Mitra :Sporting de Goa defeated Chirag United today 1-0 in an away match held in Salt Lake Stadium. Joseph Perreira scored the only goal of the match in 74th minute. Initial phase of the match belonged to Sporting de Goa who missed 3 easy chances within 20 minutes with Gopal Das making one good save and in another attempt he fumbled and Junior missed an easy chance. In 20th minute, Daniel's right footed shot just went wide. Within 5 minutes, Sporting came very close to scoring a goal when Joseph Perreira's left footed shot just narrowly missed target. Then chirag coach Subrata Bhattacharya brought in Basudeb in place of Dhanarajan and Chirag missed an easy chance in 32nd minute, Muritala missed an easy right footer off a free kick, this was perhaps the easiest chance for Chirag in the match. Within minutes after this, from a counter attack, Sporting almost scored when Joseph Perreira could not place the ball in an open net when a center from right went straight to him and his left footed shot went wide. Just after this attack, match was held for 27 minutes due to loadshedding. This is indeed a shame for Yubabharati where time and again this has been happening. In the first half, certainly Sporting was the better team and missed many easy chances. In 2nd half, Chirag started in an attacking frame of mind and played lot better than 1st half. However, against run of play Gopal Das almost conceded a goal when he missed a easy ball off Nathaniel's center and Junior could not push the ball inside goal. Then in a span of 5 minutes, Chirag missed 3 chances. In 20th minute, Basudeb gave a through pass to Gouranga in the right flank who ran well with the ball. With 2 Chirag players waiting in the box, Gouranga passed the ball straight to the lone defender of Sporting who was inside the box. In the next attack itself, Muritala could not beat the goalkeeper to score, he missed an 1:1 chance. 2 minutes later, this time Soumik got a loose ball in right flank and again he hurriedly made a miss pass when Gouranga and Muritala were waiting in the box. Unluckily for Chirag, from a counter attack, Sporting scored in 29th minute o 2nd half when Nathaniel's shot was saved by Gopal Das and from rebound Joseph Perreira pushed the ball in an empty net making the scoreline 1-0 in favour of the Goan brigade. Chirag started attacking more after conceding the unfortunate goal and on 32nd minute, Hardeep Singh got the ball in a scoring position in the box but his shot went straight to defender and deflected off for safety. In 35th minute, Basudeb showed his class once again when his long pass went straight to Muritala, but the latter just could not reach the ball and Sporting custodian made a timely save. In 40th minute, Chirag again got an easy chance, this time Muritala got the ball in an open space on the left flank but the delivery was very poor and went straight to goalkeeper. Luciano Sobrosa got Man of the Match award. After the match, Sporting coach, Gaunkar Vishwas told he was very happy with his team's performance and said that it was due to team spirit that team has got its 5th win in 6 matches and this performance is not at all a fluke as has been reported by many critics. Subrata Bhattacharya was disappointed with the loss and said that the main reason was that the midfielders could not control the game and was not holding the ball much, added to this he said his team missed many easy chances to score. He is hopeful that his team will get around 12-13 points after 1st league which is his target right now.

10-men Mohun Bagan upset reigning champions

31.10.2008 : Francis d costa : A resurgent M Mohun Bagan team defeated Dempo SC by a solitary goal in an I-League match played here at Goa to register their first win in this League. Mohun Bagan who earlier were at the bottom end of the points table with only 3 points from 5 matches needed three points badly to improve their position and move out of the relegation zone. Coach Karim Bencherifa's faith on the younger players payed off as the team played much better than in the earlier matches and managed to prevent the marauding Dempo forwards from doing any damage. Goalkeeper Sangram Mukherjee played well to thwart them on several occassions. The all-important goal was scored by the wily Jose Ramires Barreto in the 52nd minute of the match off a penalty after Bhaichung Bhutia was tripped inside the penalty area. Defender Anandavasan got two yellow cards card within a span of 7 minutes and so was shown the red card in the 30th minute of the match. Thus Mohun Bagan had to play with 10 men but still managed to stop Dempo SC from equalising. Mohun Bagan Defender Deepak Kumar Mandal was adjudged the most valuable player of the match for his streling performance in keeping the Dempo forwards at bay. This win will surely infuse lot of confidence in the team as well as hope and enthusiasm to the fans and supporters who got a belated Diwali gift!

Holder Dempo crushes Air India..

26.10.2008 : Abhishek Bhattacharyya :Defending Champion Dempo came back with a bang by thrashing Bimal Ghosh’s Air India 3-1 today in Fatorda. Dempo looked a more focused side coming back fromtheir disastrous AFC semi-final clash.Ranty Martins did all the damage as he scored twice in 38th and 78th minute and not to forget Climax Lawrence who troubled the Mumbai outfit throughout the match by supplying from the midfield.He doubled the lead for the Goan outfit in the 55th minute of the game. Air India lost their keeper Arup Debnath in the middle of the match due to an injury. Dempo scored their first goal through a penalty when Ranty was disrupted by Air India custodian Arup Debnath. Dempo medio Climax Lawrence bagged the Man of the Match for his superb performance today.Dempo have now gathered 6 points from their 3 matches and are looking very strong.

Royal Bengal Derby ended in a draw..

25.10.2008 : Abhishek Bhattacharyya :The much anticipated Bengal Derby between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan ended in a 1-1 draw today in Yuva Bharati Krirangan,Salt Lake Stadium.The 288th Derby match between this two prestigious kolkata team registered its 100 th draw today.In all, the match had the fire,the ice and last but not the least the big dynamite. Mohun Bagan has been a better opposition in Salt Lake Stadium in recent past and has maintain an unbeaten record against its Red & Yellow counterpart since CFL Premier Division,2005. India and Mohun Bagan Captain Baichung Bhutia made his presence felt in the 2nd minute of the game when he ease past the East Bengal defence after being superbly assisted by Ishfaq Ahmed.East Bengal custodian Subrata Paul came charging down to save the ball but the Sikkimese Scorpian made no mistake and gave the mariners an early lead. The pitch was slippery as there was a slight drizzle since morning and East Bengal players had difficulties of settling down in the early part of the game that gave Mohun Bagan to capitalize.Ishfaq Ahmed played a monster of a role for them and also not to forget Jose Ramirez Barreto who had a decent game. The tempo and the temper were both high not only in the stands but also in the field as we saw players often getting into a brawl.First it was Ishfaq and East Bengal defender Suley Musah in the 20th minute and then it was Surkumar Singh in the very first minute of the 2nd half for which he was red carded after he slammed down Baichung Bhutia. Mohun Bagan came close of scoring again in the 28th minute,when Ishfaq’s pass found Barreto who kept it down for Baichung.But the Bagan captain failed to convert it as he was challenged from the back.It looked like a foul and could have helped Mohun Bagan to earn a penalty but refree Pradeep Kumar turned it down. East Bengal seemed more of a settled team after 25th minute of the game. Yakubu came close of scoring for Red & Yellow brigade form a free kick in the 29th minute but sadly could only disturb the woodwork and not to forget Mohun Bagan custodian Shilton Paul.Mama came as a substitute in 31st minute after Bencherifa decided to replace Lal Kamal Bhowmick.East Bengal came back with a fiery equalizer in the 39th minute when Yakubu’s passed found Syed Rahim Nabi in the Mariners box who placed the ball into the mariners net and levelling the game for East Bengal in turn exposing the achillies heel of Bagan defence.Sunil Chetri came close of heading the ball in the Bagan net in the last minute of the first half but was safely parried away by Shilton Paul. The second half saw Mohun Bagan Goalkeeper Shilton Paul being substituted by a more experienced Sangram Mukherjee who responded quickly by saving couple of brilliant shots.Rozario’s strategy was hampered when Surkumar was red carded after he slapped Baichung Bhutia who went down in the ground causing an uproar between the two playing sides and not to forget the spectators in the stand.East Bengal Goalkeeper Subrata Paul also picked up an yellow card for his showing rage against the refree.Refree Pradeep Kumar did well to keep things down. Substitutions were made as we saw Sanju Pradhan coming in for Mehtab and Wadoo replacing Malsawmkima.Yakubu did tried to break the Mohun Bagan defence which gained a bit of confidence after East Bengal went down to 10 men but was not able to do so.Mohun Bagan’s Ishfaq Ahmed was adjudged the Man of the Match for today’s game.

Churchill beat Vasco 4 - 1

25.10.2008 : Abhishek Bhattacharyya : Odafe Okolie scored a hat-trick to guide Churchill Brothers 4 - 1 win against Vasco S.C ONGC I-League match at Goa today. Odafe scored in the 40th, 44th and 62th minutes andFelix Chimaokwu scored an another in 41st minute for the winners. Vasco reduced the margin through substitute Agnelo Colaco in the 70th minute of the match. Churchill Brothers, have now collected 10 points from 4 matches while Vasco remained at the bottom with 1 point . In the 40th minute Odafe scored his first goal following a corner kick of Zenith Genius who floated the ball into the box from the right . Next minute Felix scored from a square pass of Odafe. Three minutes later, Odafe gave churchill a 3 - 0 lead while received a through pass from R.Vashum after beating two defenders of Vasco. Again in 62nd mnute Odafe scored the first hat-trick of the I-League with an angular shot off a pass from Naoba Singh . Vasco, managed to reduce the margin in the 70th minute through substitute Agnelo Colaco . Odafe Okolie was awarded Man of the Match today

OKERO MAGIC HELPS MOHAMMEDAN TO GET 3 POINTS

24.10.2008 : S.Mitra :Mohammedan Sporting today beat Mahindra 1-0 in an I league match held in Salt Lake Stadium. Okero scored the goal in 73rd minute. Mahindra played better football in first half and missed several easy chances. Chiddi played well in first half. In 7th minute, Chiddi centered from the left flank which went straight to Steven who could not head the ball in an empty goal. In 20th minute, Chiddi missed an opportunity when he missed an easy head off Steven center. In 22nd minute, Chiddi beautifully set the ball in the box but surprisingly neither Steven nor Douhog could connect the ball. Mohammedan got the first chance in 30th minute when Okero almost scored via a left footer shot which Subhashish saved but no Mohammedan player was following the ball and Mahindra defence cleared the ball for safety. In 40th minute, from a counter attack, Vimal got the ball in open and instead of passing to Okero who was standing unmarked, he went for gallery show and himself tried to score resulting in an awful shot. In 2nd half, Sukhwinder took a nice shot in 15th minute which narrowly missed target. In 18th minute, Okero tried for a backvolley but could not connect the ball properly, a great attempt indeed. Sabbir then brought in Jothi Kumar in place of Vimal Pariyar, this change should have been taken place much earlier. This changed the complexion of the game and Jothi's run down the left flank caused panic in Mahindra defence. In 72nd minute, Subhashish made a brilliant save off a Gautam header from a Okero center. In the next minute, Okero scored the brilliant goal, Jothi gave a long pass from left flank which went above Pradeep's head and Okero just lobbed the ball above Subhashish who had charged out to clear the ball, a cool headed finish from Okero indeed. In last 10 minutes of the match, Mahindra missed two easy chances, Sushil and Rafi were the culprits. Okero got Man of the Match award. Okero overall had a brilliant game. Both Steven and Pradip disappointed for Mahindra and had to be replaced. Mohammedan has now 5 points from 5 matches. Sabbir Ali was happy by getting full three points and he gave credit to team game. Mahindra coach looked disappointed that his strikers missed so many easy chances. Mike Okoro has been selected Man of the Match today.

Sporting Goa beat Mumbai F.C to reach in the top

24.10.2008 : S.Mitra : Mumbai FC's unbeaten run has been stopped by Goan Club Sporting Goa who registered their 4th win in 5 matches after a 1 - 0 victory in the ONGC I-League match played at the Nehru stadium Goa. Sporting, who made their first attack in the 15th minute Nathaniel Amos's shot was blocked by Mumbai keeper Kalyan Chaubey. Sporting took the lead in the 18th minute when Defender Rovan Pereira sent a long cross into the box which Jr. Elija received and raced it into the box and placed from the left side of onrushing Mumbai keeper Kalyan.(1 - 0) In the second half Felix - Hammond combination of Mumbai F.C came off with a good move but the shot of felix was well saved by Goan keeper Felix D'souza. Avishek Yadav missed a golden oppertunity to equalizer,his powerful his header hit the post off a good cross from Subhas Chakraborty from the left flank. The only scorer of the match Elija Jr. of Sporting Goa has been selected Man of the Match. With 4 goals Elija and Odefa Okoli of Churchill is currently the Joint top Scorer .

Chirag United hold JCT goalless

23.10.2008 : S.Mitra :The Young Purple Brigade of Chirag United without their five key players completely outplayed JCT today AND SHOULD HAVE WON THE MATCH BY 5 - 0 but due to missed chances they could not take full 3 points from this match. The match ended 0 - 0. First 15-20 minutes was evenly matched with both teams attacking. In the very first team, Chirag almost conceded a goal, then in 20th minute a shot from Edu just missed the target. Coach Subrata Bhattacharya then replaced Raleng and brought in Ayan Chowdhury. In 30th minute, Ayan missed a easy header with only goalkeeper to beat. From here on, it was a one way traffic with Chirag creating chances and missing goals. In 35th minute, Soumik missed a header. In 37th minute, Ayan got an easy chance and lot of time to score but his poor strike deflected off a defender. In the very next minute, Chirag got a penalty as JCT defender had handled the ball inside box. However, Dulal's poor penalty was saved by JCT custodian. Just before lemon break, Snehasish ran down the left flank and his center found Ayan inside box who again missed another easy chance to score. In 2nd half also Chirag got 2 more chances to score and Ayan missed the chances. n the 75th minute, Snehasish Chakrabarty again set up Ayan with a measured pass, but Ayan lost the ball to a rival defender. In the last minute, Gopal made a mistake and almost conceded a goal. Snehasish and Saini were brilliant for Chirag and either of them should have got Man of the Match. Instead Anwar Ali of JCT got Man of Match award.

Mohammedan S.C hold Mohun Bagan again

19.10.2008 : Arnab Chowdhury:Mohammedan Sporting hold Kolkata Premier League Winner Mohun Bagan and share points after a 1 - 1 draw in their I-League match at the Salt Lake stadium today. Champion and Runners up of this year's Kolkata Premier League have been unbale to win a single match in I-League till now. Mohammedan striker Mike Okoro and Theodore Sunday combining well went into attack right from the start.For the cause Gautam Thakur gave Mohammedan the lead in the 3rd minute, created by a brilliant final pass from Theodore Sunday,who got the ball from speedy Okoro. Jose Ramirez Barreto equalised for Mohun Bagan in the 24th minute, expertly converting a pass from Malswam Tulunga with a powerful one touch volly. Bagan keeper Shilton Paul also made a few nice saves to earn a point for his side today. Barreto was given a yellow card by referee Suresh of Tamilnadu for assaulting goalkeeper of Mohammedan Sporting. Bagan controlled the rest of the session, but failed to capitalise the chances .Mohun Bagan are now at the 10th position with 2 points , a step ahead of Mohammedan S.C. Rakesh Masih of Mohun Bagan was adjudged man of the match. Upto today's match, out of 225 encounter between these two Giant teams of India, Mohun Bagan won 111 times,while Mohammedan won 40 times, remain 74 matches ended in a draw. In NFL and I-League both teams has played 20 matches till today, where Mohun Bagan won 10 times, Mohammedan won 4 times and 6 matches ended ended in a draw.

Odafe Magic stopped Sporting's winning streak

19.10.2008 : Arnab Chowdhury:The scoring Magic of Odafe Okolie stopped Sporting Goa's winning streak as Churchill Brothers won 3 - 0 in ONGC I-League match at Nehru Stadium in Margao today. Churchill controlled the match with their strikers.in 14th minutes,a Robert Lalthalwama forward a pass to Odafe from a move from the right flanke. Odafe then pushed the ball a grounder which beat Sporting keeper Felix Souza to his right(1 - 0). Junior Elija, who scored three individual goals in I-league had a good chance in the second half to equalise but his shot was blocked by Churchill Custodian Arindam Bhattacharya. Micky Fernandes and Nathaniel Amos of Sporting also lost two chances in the second half. Churchill increased their lead to 2 - 0 in the 54th minute through Odafe whose powerful punch from the top of the box gave no chance to Sporting keeper Felix Dsouza to block. Churchill Defender Naoba Singh scored the last in 68th minute off a long pass from Odafe.His powerful shot from top of the box went straight to the Sporting Goal (3 - 0). Last Year's Top Scorer with 22 Goals Churchill Captain Odafe Okoli has been awarded Man of the Match for his outstanding play and also scored 4 goals. Churchill now have 7 points with 2 wins and one draw from three matches, while Sporting Goa remained on nine points from 4 matches .

East Bengal returns to Vicrtoy through Yakubu brace

18.10.2008 : Arnab Chowdhury:Through a brace by Ghanaian Striker Yusif Yakubu, East Bengal returns to Victory by defeating Vasco Sports Club of Goa 2 - 0 in their fourth round match of the ONGC I-League at Salt Lake Stadium today. Today from the very begenning East Bengal went all out attack and scored their first one in the 7th minute when speedy Yakubu,collecting a ball from Mehrajuddin and pushed the target by beating Vasco Keeper (1-0).East Bbengal Defender Suley Musah lost a goden oppertunity to score from the right side of the Vasco penalty area in the 19th minute. In the 2nd half Yakubu got another golden opportunity but was tripped by the Vasco goalkeeper inside the penalty box but referee P.K. Bose ignored it and instead of giving foul he showed yellow card to Yakubu.In the 55th minute Sunil Chettri's push deflected off the first post. Vasco, could found a goal through their Uzbek striker Rabhson Deshabaev in the 66th minute which was disallowed by the referee P K Bose for off side.East Bengal made sure of earning full three points through Yakubu again in the 89th miutes,when medio Sanju Pradhan pushed the ball to yakubu who netted easily (2-0). Yusif Yakubu of East Bengal adjudjed Man of the Match award today With this victory, East Bengal, who lost twice and won once in their earlier round matches, have earned six points from four matches while Vasco remained at the same tally of one point after four outings.

Mahindra upsets JCT to open account in I-league

18.10.2008 : Arnab Chowdhury: After continuous Three losts,Durand Cup Winner Mahindra United has got their first victory through a solitary goal over JCT in ONGC I-League away match at Guru Nanak Stadium Ludhiana. JCT dominated first half but failed to capitalise verious chances and Mahindra also wasted a couple of scoring opportunities. After the goalless first half, Mahindra went ahead in the 53rd minute through a nice move by Edeh Chidi who gave a square pass to forward Sukhwinder Singh and he made no mistake to score for Mahindra(1 - 0) .With this victory, Mahindra earned three valuable points . Amandeep Singh of JCT has been awarded Man of the Match today

Air India edge past Chirag United by Surojit's Goal

18.10.2008 : Arnab Chowdhury:Air India continued their unbeaten run asthey recorded their second victory over Kolkata Team Chirag United by a solitary goal in ONGC I-League match at the Cooperage in Mumbai. The only goal of the match came in the 71st minute through Air India's Midfielder Surojit Roy off a long throwin by Uttam Singh from the right flank.Substitute Goalkeeper of Chirag United Arindom Ghosh missed the flight of Throwin which landed at the feet of Surojit who easily pushed the ball into the goal.With this Surojit scored 3 goals in 4 matches for his team. In the last moment of first half Chirag missed a scoring oppertrunity through Hardeep Sing Saini but Air India Cusrodian Arup Debnath saved a sure goal through a corner which was punced by Hardeep. Air India's Nigerian stopper and man of the match Chukwuma Udofia will miss the next match against Dempo in Goa after collecting his second yellow.

Air India flies as East Bengal sinks

12.10.2008 : Abhishek Bhattacharyya:East Bengal received a huge blow as they lost their back to back matches to the so called minnows of ONGC I-League.First it was Mumbai FC and now it is Bimal Ghosh’s Air India who defeated Rozario’s troop in Mumbai today.

Air India scored through Surojit Roy in 48th minute and Nigerian Michael Tayo in 76th minute to inflict on their rivals their second defeat in three matches.

East Bengal missed their key players Sunil Chetri, Edmilson, Alvito D'Cunha and Surkumar Singh as they were trapped by their opponent in their own den.

East Bengal changed their coach,had some superb signings but still seems to lack performances.This questions will surely haunt the fans and the management and also not to forget the team and its coach.They need to find a proper balance as early as possible if they want to perform well in their upcoming league matches.

Air India's Foreigner Michel Tayo adjudged Man of The Match today.

Air India : 24-Arup Debnath; 6- Uttam Kumar Singh (19-Santosh Koli), 2- Napoleon Singh, 3-Ravinder Singh, 28-Michael Tayo, 29-Chukwuma Udofia, 4-Syed Farid, 23-Kailash Patil (12-Subhash Singh), 25-Emmanuel Ovieghara,10-Soccor Velho, 22-Surojit Roy (18-Vijith Shetty),

12.10.2008 : Abhishek Bhattacharyya:Subrata Bhattacharyya’s tactical tinkering paid-off as Chirag United holds Churchill brothers for a goalless draw in Barasat Stadium today.

Chirag United dominated the game courtesy their medio and Man-of the-match Snehashish Chakraborty.Odafa failed to deliver his magical performances as the home team clinched one point from a match where they never expected to score a point.

It seems that the newly promoted teams are doing pretty well such as Mumbai FC and Chirag United who thrashed Derek Perreira’s outfit 3-1 in their previous encounter.Credit must be given to their Coach Subrata Bhattacharyya who has huge experience of coaching the Kolkata teams and his pre-season hardwork seemingly paying rich dividends to his current club as the Kolkata team is now unbeaten for the last two games.

Coming back to the match United had a chance of scoring on 30th minute of the game but Snehashis was unable to find glory.Chirag’s Gouranga Dutta’s header went over the bar which could have helped them to earn 3 points today.United keeper Ravikant did a great job by making some brilliant saves.

Snehasish Chakrabarty of Chirag United adjudged Man of The Match today.

Churchill Brothers:29-Arindam Bhattacharya; 8- Naoba Singh, 6-M Govin Singh, 19- Gouramangi Singh, 17-Robert Lalthalma; 15-Chandam Singh, 9-Ogba Kalu , 13- Genius Zenith, 11-Khemtang Paite (14-Nicholas Rodrigues), 7-Felix Chimaokwu (35 Balan Bineesh), 10-Odafe Okolie.

12.10.2008 : Abhishek Bhattacharyya: In the other match defending champion Dempo registered their first win in current I-League by beating city rival Vasco F.C 2 - 1 at Goa today.

Dempo scored through Brazilian Beto (24th minutes) and Nigerian Ranty Martins (30th minutes) of the match .Vasco, reduced the margin through the Uzbekistan striker Ravshan Teshabaev in 32 minutes.

Defender Sameer Nyek of Dempo has been awarded Man of the Match

The win is a booster for Dempo before their return league match against Safa Club of Lebanon in the semifinals of the AFC Cup on October 21 at Hyderabad.

11.10.2008 : Abhishek Bhattacharyya:Mumbai FC continues their dream run in their first I-League Campaign by beating their home rivals Mahindra United by a solitary goal.Cooperage saw two of its evenly matched home teams battiling against each other today.Mahindra United had many chances of scoring but Chidi Edeh didn’t gave them his messianic performance for which he was signed by Derek Perreira.

Mumbai FC scored their hattrick of wins by beating Mohun Bagan,East Bengal and Derek Perreira’s beleaguered side today in Cooperage.Mumbai FC went ahead in 23rd minute when their super signing from Mohammedan S.C Kalia Koluthungan scored his 2nd goal in I League for Mumbai F.C after he was brilliantly assisted by Subhas Chakroborty. .

Mahindra United has lost all the three matches they played in I-League,2008. Meanwhile Mumbai FC is ranked 2nd in the league table with 9 Points after Sporting Club De Goa who are tied with the Mumbai based team but are ahead on goal difference.

James of Mumbai F.C picked up the Man-of the-Match for this exciting encounter.

11.10.2008 : Abhishek Bhattacharyya: JCT continues their good form after they defeated Sabbir Ali's Mohammedan Sporting 2 - 0 in Guru Nanak Stadium today in the third round of the ONGC I-league match .

Sukhwinder Singh got his tactics all correct as they scored a brace against the newly promoted Kolkata side.Baljit Sahni gave them the lead in 46th minute followed by the Man-of the-Match Brazilian Eduardo Escobar Da Silva scoring the second goal in 66th minute of the match.

It's the 2nd goal of the Brazilian Striker in this I-League.

JCT are placed 3rd in the league table with 7 points after todays match and will be facing Mahindra United on 18th October,2008.

11.10.2008 : Abhishek Bhattacharyya: Mohun Bagan received a huge blow when lost out to Sporting Goa 2-0 today in Margao today in I-League Matches.

So much was expected from Karim Bencherifa and his mens but they again disappointed their fans.But Sporting Clube de Goa is now at the top of the League table with 9 points from 3 matches while Mohun Bagan, who suffered their second defeat, have just one point.

Mohan Bagan came near scoring in the 21 st minute when Barreto sent a cross pass from right flank to quickly overlaping Isfaq Ahamed but his weak shot easily saved by Sporting goalkeepr Felix D'Souza..In a counter attack, Sporting Striker Joychandra Singh missed an easy oppertunity as his shot hit the cross Bar in the 25th minute.

Sporting surged ahead in the 26th minute through Wilton Gomes. The goal was a result of fine combine move when Harmonjot Khabra passed to Joseph Pereira who in quick sucession floated a ball to Wilton Gomes, whose header Mohan Bagan defender N Mohan Raj instead of clearing it touched his leg and went into his own goal and at half time Sporting were leading by 1-0. Mohun Bagan's Mohanraj sadly became the first man in this I-league to score an own goal in 26th minute to clear a powerful header of Wilton Gomes from floating lob of Joseph Pereira.

Sporting’s lead was doubled through substitute of Joy Chandra Singh, Nigerian Striker Nathaniel Amos,who headed in a well measured cross pass given by Joseph Pereira .

Wilton Gomes picked up the Man-of the-Match award from this encounter.

04.10.2008 :Newly promoted Chirag United of Kolkata outclassed Durand Cup champions Mahindra United 3 - 1 in the ONGC I-League football match at the Cooperage ground today.they lost just opposite score 1 - 3 against City rival East Bengal in their first match in the opening of I-League at Barasat.

In the 12th minutes of first half Mahindra netted first which scored with a header by Sushil Kumar Singh from a close range measured cross from the right flank sent by Steven Dias. Chirag United came back quickly into the match in the 2nd half by scoring 3 goals against 2005-06 League winners from Mumbai.This is the 2nd defeat of Mumbai Giant who had lost 1- 2 to Churchill Brothers of Goa in their opening I-League clash.

Muritala Ali of Chirag equalised in the 2nd half 46th minutes who got the ball from Gouranga Dutta and simply lofted the ball over an advancing Mahindra custodian Subashish Roy Chowdhury . Chirag got their second goal in the 53rd minute when speedy Gouranga Dutta came charging in to connect with a sliding motion a goalmouth centre from the left by Snehasish Chakraborty.

After ten minutes Mahindra Could have to equalise through Steven Dias whose free-kick hit the post. Three minutes before ending the match Chirag's substitute Hardeep Saini scored with an angular shot off a measured pass from Muritala Ali.

Hardeep Singh Saini of Chirag United has been awared Man of the Match.Mahindra coach Derrick Pereira blamed his midfield for the stunning reverse against Chirag United.

Chirag United: ? Ravikant Singh, 2-Louis, 15-Dulal Biswas, 6-R Dhanarajan (7-Hardip Singh Saini), 5-Subhashish Roy Chowdhury, 14-Basudeb Mondal,30-Gouranga Dutta,17-Bidemi Daniel,11-Snehasish Chakraborty, 25-Shankar Oraon,32-Muritala Ali,

04.10.2008 : :Sporting Clube de Goa defeated Mohammedan Sporting Of Kolkata 3 - 0 in their 2nd round match of the ONGC 2nd I-League today at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium,Goa. Sabbir Ali's three foreigners, Adebayo Adewusi ,Mike Okoro and Theodore Sunday was totally flopped to open goal mouth of the Goan Club.

After a goalless first half, Sporting Goa scored all their goals in 2nd half through Elija Junior(62nd, 76th) and Micky Fernandes (75th).

Sporing could have to lead in the first 19 minutes, if Man of the Match Elija's powerful shot was not saved by Mohammedan keeper Naseem Akhtar .

Sporting took the lead in the 62nd minute, when Joseph Pereira played a short pass to Wilton Gomes from a flag kick, who float the ball into the box and Elija placed the ball into the net by a header. The 2nd goal came in the 75th minute when Micky Fernandes ran solo from the middle and puzzled Mohammedan defenders before placing the ball into the net.

A minute later, Junior made full three points for Sporting Clube, when he chipped the ball over onrushing Mohammedan Custodian Naseem Akhtar and killed all hopes Mohammedan Sporting.

Sporting Goa:Felix D'Souza,Wilton Gomes ,Chinta Chandrashekhar,Philip Gomes,Samananda Singh,Harmanjot Khabra(Bisheshwor Singh),Joseph Pereira, Micky Fernandes,Luciano Sabrosa,Joychandra Singh(Anthony D'Souza),Elijah Junior (Cavin Lobo)

03.10.2008 : Rahul Sengupta:The reigning Kolkata League Champions are not finding it easy in the I League. After losing the opening match against newly promoted side Mumbai Fc the green and maroon mariners had their task cut out to win the match for saving their pride. The first few minutes saw both the team playing an unruly football just a smart move to get along with the treacherous turf. As early as the 5th minute itself Mohun Bagan got few good chances to take the early lead perhaps an ardent effort to avoid the mistakes committed in their previous outing against Mumbai FC.

Jose Barreto, Ishfaq Ahmed and P C Lalwampuia combined well but the Air defence stood on firm ground led by the foreigner Udiofia. Air India goalkeeper Arup Debnath showed his potential by parrying away two excellent shots on goal taken by the mighty Brazilian in the Mariner’s squad. Mohun Bagan’s stand in skipper Lalkamal Bowmick saw an early yellow card for his foolishness on the pitch, this act revealed how much Mohun Bagan players were missing their Skipper Bhaichung Bhutia.

In the dying moments of the first half the Air Men took the lead as Striker Soccor Vellho scored from a well-initiated free kick by Napolean Singh. Karim played all his cards after replacing Malswantulunga in place of Lalkamal Bhowmick. A last dith effort by the Moroccan coach was made when brought in rookie striker Branco Vincent Cardozo in the 70th minute. Minutes had past since he stepped onto the pitch that he scored his first ever goal for Mohun Bagan in the I league thus saving Karim Bencharifa from real time blushes.

Noteworthy mention must be made of Air India defenders Uttam Singh, Napolean Singh and Arup Debnath who put up a brave show to steal away a single yet important point from the away fixture.

Mohun Bagan should take some positives from the match as they took away their first points of the season. Whereas Air India coach will have a pleasure trip back home as he is satisfied with 2 points from two tough Away matches. Mohun Bagan now have to travel to Goa as they face Sporting club in their next match in search for their first victory of the campaign. Meanwhile Air India team will fly back home to welcome East Bengal next week. mohunbagan-airindia-2008.jpg

Score: Mohun Bagan: 1 (Branco Cardozo [12] 72nd) Air India 1 (Soccor Velho [10] 43rd)

Yellow Cards: Lalkamal Bhowmick (Mohun Bagan)

Air india ::24-Arup Debnath; 6-Uttam Singh, 29-Chukwuma Udofia, 4-Syed Farid, 2- Napoleon Singh, 3-Ravinder Singh, 28-Michael Tayo, 22-Surojit Roy (18-Vijith Shetty), 10-Soccor Velho (12-Subhash Singh), 23-Kailash Patil (11-Hringsolal Thomte), 25-Emmanuel Ovieghara

02.10.2008 : Rahul Sengupta:Vasco F.C, the Newly promoted Team from 2nd Divn to 1st Divn I - League ended their match a goalless draw against JCT, who defeated 3 times winner Dempo S.C in their first match.

Today Vasco Goalkeeper Laxmikant Kattimani played well and blocked three positive goal scoring chances of JCT.In the 8th minutes of first half JCT striker Eduardo Escober got the first chance to get a goal and again lost an another opportunity to score in the 20th minutes vut Vasco custodia tipped the ball over the bar off a free kick from Eduardo.

Vasco, who lost to sporting Goa in their opening match, did not create much impact through the match with their three foreigners .

JCT defender Julius Akpele was declared the man of the match today.

JCT F.C: 1-Karanjit Singh; 13-Baldeep Singh Sr, 7-Jagpreet Singh, 17-Amandeep Singh (8-Jaswinder Singh), 4-Julius Akpele, 3-Anwar Ali, 2-Jaspal Singh; 6-Baljit Singh Sahni; 9-Balwant Singh (22-Pawan Kumar),24-Gurwinder Singh (28-Shivraj Singh), 10-Eduardo Escobar.

30.09.2008 : Rahul Sengupta: Mumbai Fc continued their sparkling run in the 2nd edition of the ONGC I League 2008-2009. Mumbai Fc’s Ghanaian import Felix Obogaye scored the only goal of the match to take the debutants to the top spot in the I League so far.

East Bengal was playing without the services of their key defender Surkumar Singh due a vital injury in his ankle. Mumbai Fc started their match on a high after a confidence booster wins against the historic club Mohun Bagan. Mumbai FC team took the lead in the 23rd minute through a crisp finish from their foreign striker. East Bengal did make all their effort to stage a comeback but key players like Rennedy Singh and Sunil Chhetri were looking very off colored.

Stanley Rosario substituted Ashim Biswas in place of Edmilson after he failed to create any impact in the game. Mumbai Fc defender Selwyn Fernandez was totally excellent and if he continues this performance he can be called up to the National Camp soon. New coach Stanley was looking very confused after he replaced Mehtab for Rennedy and later on U-19 player Gautam Khujur for mehtab thus wasting a substitution. East Bengal face Air India in the next match where as Mumbai FC shall gear up to play their Mumbai counter parts Mahindra United.

Selwyn Fernandez of Mumbai F.C has been awarded Man of The Match today

Score: East Bengal 0 - 1 Mumbai FC ( Felix[10] 23rd min)

29.09.2008 : Mohammedan Sporting hold Air-India 1-1 in their first round encounter of the ONGC I-League at the Barasat Stadium today. Mohammedan Sporting, who had finished runners-up in the second division I-League and promoted into Iat Divn. along with another Bengal Based Team Chirag United.

Air India took lead in the 23rd minute through Surajit Roy from a well-organised move by Air Men Michael Tayo - Emmanuel Ovieghara . Surojit who was a player of Mohammedan S.C just 2 years ago and also an inhabitant on Barasat. The First half ended a (1 - 0) lead on behalf of Air India. Mohammedan Sporting, visibly under pressure after the first goal, lost an easy chance early in the first-half. It was Sunday, who almost gave the Kolkata team the lead but his shot was deflected by Air India goalkeeper Aloke Debnath to give opponent coach Shabbir Ali some frustrating time.

In the 2nd half,Sahara CFL Premier League Runners Kolkata team beginning to put pressure on the visitorsas through their Sunday - Okoro duo .For the reason in 58 th minute, CFL Premier League Top Scorer Theordor Sunday of Mohammedan S.C bring the equaliser for Mohammedan Sporting.(1 - 1)

Mohammedan S.C Midfielder Adebayo Adewusi adjujed Man of the Match Today

AIR-INDIA: 24-Arup Debnath; 2-Napoleon Singh, 29-Chukwuma Udofia, 6-Uttam Singh, 3-Ravinder Singh, 10-Soccor Velho, 28-Michael Tayo, 4-Syed Farid, 22-Surojit Roy (18-Vijith Shetty), 8-Samson Singh (12-Subhas Singh, 19-Santosh Koli), 25-Emmanuel

Yellow Cards: Subhas Singh (70') (Air India).

Today, the Boys of Armando Colaco dominated the game but JCT took the lead in the 17th minute when Their Brazilian Striker Eduardo Escobar chested a fine cross from Daljeet Singh and beat Dempo custidoan Abhijit Mondal.

Balwant doubled the lead in the 63td minute with his left footer after receiving off a ball friom Baljeet Saini. Dempo's Nicolou Borges pulled one back in the 79th from about a zero degree angle with his left footer feded by Beto.After lost to Jct in their first match like Mahindra United and Mohun Bagan, Three times winner Dempo coach Armando said he was not disappointed with the result as he is looking at the AFC Cup semi-final.

JCT as well as India Sr. Team Defender Anwar Ali adjudged Man of the Match today.

JCT F.C:: 1-Karanjit Singh; 12-Daljit Singh, 4-Julius Akpele, 3-Anwar Ali, 6-Baljit Singh Sahni (8-Jaswinder Singh),2-Jaspal Singh; 13-Baldeep Singh Sr, 27-Baldeep Singh Jr (7-Jagpreet Singh), 24-Gurwinder Singh, 9-Balwant Singh (22-Pawan Kumar), 10-Eduardo Escobar.

The Mohun Bagan team did try to stage a comeback but their efforts were subsided by the quality finish of Kalia Kulothungan from an inch perfect cross of the Ghanaian Hammond. In the 24th Minute Mohun Bagan were down 2-0. The ground condition showed the same story of the Calcutta premier league and thus shows the intensity of having an Astro-turf at the Mecca of football in India. In the second half Bagan coach Karim replaced inexperienced Rino anto with Mohunraj to continue the overlapping runs made by the young Tamil Nadu player. Bagan showed some character in the second half only because the Mumbai FC team got carried away with their two-goal lead. But the lead was short lived when Lalampuia put one back in the 76th minute. Later on Bhaichung got 3 clear chances to not only equalize but also to take the lead but a special mention must be made of the Mumbai Fc goalkeeper Kalyan Chaubey whose heroics saved the Mumbai side from a downfall in the later stages.

MUMBAI FC : 13-Kalyan Chaubey; 19-Sanjay Parte, 5-Selwyn Fernandes, 3-James , 2-Anes Edathodika; 29-Subash Chakraborty ( 27-Anees Kutty), 20-Riston Rodrigues, 17-Kalia Kulothungan, 21-Aseem Kutty ( 7-Sampath Kuttimani); 10-Felix Aboagye (9-Abhishek Yadav), 11-Abel Hammond.

Yellow Cards: Kalyan Chaubey, Kulothungan Kalia and Felix (Mumbai F.C)

Referee: Arjunan (Services)

The Churchill team spearheaded by Captain Odafa Okelie in front created confusion for Mahindra United’s defence.An eventful first half saw both the teams missing many chances of scoring.Mahindra earned the first opportunity to score when Pierre Douhou’s pass found Steven Dias near the Churchill box but he sends the ball wide off the post.

In the 12th minute of the game Churchill’s Chitra’s long ranger was well gathered by Mahindra Goalkeeper Subhashish Roy Chowdhary.In the 14th minute of the match Last year's highest goalscorer Odafa came close of scoring when he dribbled into the Mahindra box but N.P.Pradeep's strong defending hampered Odafa's intention.Mahindra attacked more from the right wing courtesy Steven Dias where Churchill seemed to have got their things right courtesy Robert & Chitra whose through balls to Odafa did the trick for them.In 21st Minute Shushant Matthew again came close of scoring but his effort was fisted away by Churchill Goalkeeper Arindam Bhattacharyya.On the other side Subhashish kept on saving from Odafa’s onslaught.In 35th minute Odafa again came close as Subhashish came charging down to save it but Odafa hammers it over the crossbar.

Mahindra had many more chances in the first half but they were well covered by Churchill defenders Gourmangi Singh and Man-of the-Match Govin Singh.The deadlock was broken in the 61st minute of the game when Odafa scored from a through ball.What was notable was the celebration after scoring the goal where he lifted the shirt to unveil the lines “Happy Birthday to Odafa Junior” that was written in his vest. Mahindra clawed one back through Shushil Singh in 81st minute but Odafa had some other plans as he destroyed Derek Perreira’s hope of acquiring one point from this match when he scored his 2nd one of the game in the 87th minute of the match.

Sunil Chhetri another new comer from JCT who scored a hat-trick and man of the AFC Challenge Cup final, opened his scoring for his new club in the 27th minute(3 - 0). In the second-half Chirag created a few chances and lastly reduced the margin through Sankar Oraon, whose strong left-footer beat national goalkeeper Subrata Pal.Sunil Chettri of KF East Bengal fgot ther man-of-the-match award.

CHIRAG UNITED: 1-Arindam Ghosh; 8-Sasthi Duley ( 5-Subhashish Roy Chowdhury), 4-Kingshuk Debnath, 15-Dulal Biswas (18-Sukhen Dey), 6-R Dhanarajan, 30-Gauranga Datta, 16-Arnab Mondal, 27-Malswama Hmar (7-Hardip Singh Saini), 11-Snehasish Chakraborty, 10-Ayan Chowdhury, 25-Shankar Orao.

YELLOW CARDS: :KEB: Renedy Singh (56'), Nirmal Chetri 57',
Chirag: Arnab Mondal (49'), Subhashish Roy Chowdhury 90',