Durand Cup: Mohun Bagan, Indian Army Football clinch victories

Kolkata (West Bengal)/Kokrajhar (Assam) [India], August 7 (ANI): Mohun Bagan Super Giant beat Punjab FC 2 -0 to secure their second consecutive victory in a Group A fixture of the 132nd Durand Cup being played here at the Kishore Bharathi Krirangan on Monday.
Melroy Assisi’s own goal gave Mohun Bagan the lead while Hugo Boumous doubled the lead for the local side. Mohun Bagan has topped the group with this win.
Mohun Bagan Super Giant Head Coach Juan Ferrando was back at the touchline for this match and he made six changes to the side with many of the first-team players having a crack at the game. Punjab FC Head Coach Staikos Vergetis named a strong side against the local side for their debut in the Durand Cup. The conditions were once again tricky as the rain was pelting down making it tough for both sides to play free-flowing football.
Both teams started cautiously looking to settle into the conditions. MBSG settled quicker than PFC and started to stitch together some passes in the opponent's half. On the other end, right winger Leon Augustine was creating problems for the MBSG captain Subhasish Bose which resulted in the latter receiving a booking early into the half. Mohun Bagan broke the deadlock in the 23rd minute. Manvir Singh received a ball in the right wing and the forward wriggled past Nikhil Prabhu and put in a low cross which was deflected into his own goal by Melroy Assisi with Suhail Bhatt lurking behind him. Punjab were lively in patches, especially with Krishnananda Singh lively down the left wing for PFC but he could not find the telling pass for the side from Punjab to equalize with Luka Majcen getting very less service inside the box.
The introduction of Juan Mera changed the complexion of PFC’s attack with the tricky winger influencing the game. But it was the Mariners who doubled their lead in the 48th minute through a swift counterattack. Hugo Boumous collected the ball and found Listin Colaco whose chip cross was not pushed to safety by the Punjab goalkeeper Kiran Kumar Limbu. The rebound fell kindly for Boumous who tapped the ball inside the goal. Punjab almost got a goal back in the very next minute. Krishnananda again found Luka on the edge of the box and the Slovenian came back of the crossbar. Punjab was on the front foot and was threatening the Mohun Bagan goal regularly. Amarjity Singh found Luka with a headed pass and the forward's left-footed attempt was saved well by Mohun Bagan keeper Vishal Kaith. Punjab FC kept on pushing the Mariner's defence but Anwar Ali and Brandon Hamill were too strong to breach. The final score remained the same in favour of Mohun Bagan giving them their second consecutive victory of the tournament.
Earlier, Liton Shil scored and was later sent off as Indian Army Football Team held on to their solitary goal to beat Odisha FC in a Group F fixture of the 132nd Durand Cup being played here at the SAI Stadium on Monday.
Liton Shil gave the lead for the Army side in the 42nd minute which was enough for the side to clinch victory against the ISL side.
Indian Army started the game on the front foot attacking the Odisha box. They could have scored in the very minute of the game as an unmarked Rahul Ramakrishnan failed to capitalize on a good cutback from right winger L Deepak Singh as he could not finish the move.
Christopher Kamei’s shot was saved by Odisha keeper, Niraj Kumar in the very next attack by the Army side. Indian Army continued to pile on the pressure on the inexperienced Odisha as their frontline looked threatening in every move. Both teams could not create clear-cut chances as the game was mostly played in the centre of the park. In the 42nd minute of the game, Samir Murmu played a through ball for centre forward Liton Shil who ran past two defenders and finished expertly beyond the Odisha keeper to give the Indian Army side the lead.
Odisha started the second half with more vigour looking for the equalizer but the Army men used their experience to slow down the game and play it to their advantage against the youngsters of Odisha. Liton Shil was always posing a threat for the Odisha defence along with Deepak Singh with Christopher Kamei controlling the proceedings from midfield. Indian Army was reduced to ten men in the 77th minute as goal scorer Liton Shil was shown a straight red card for a clumsy foul on Odisha defender Tankadhar Bag. Odisha put continuous pressure on the Army side but the experienced Army men saw off the dangers to open their Durand Cup campaign with a win.
On Tuesday, FC Goa will start their campaign in Group D against newly promoted I-League side Shillong Lajong FC at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium, Guwahati at 3 PM. Shillong Lajong had lost their first match against Northeast United.
Last year’s runner’s up and ISL Champions Mumbai City FC will face off against Jamshedpur FC in a Group B fixture at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharathi Krirangan, Kolkata at 6 PM. (ANI)