Mohun Bagan 2-0 Pailan Arrows: Jose Barreto’s brilliance wins the Mariners crucial three points

Second half goals from Jose Barreto and Jewel Raja won the tie for Mohun Bagan as they got the better of Pailan Arrows at the Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata in a round 17 of the I-League.

The win saw Mohun Bagan climb above a few places on the table with 30 points in their kitty while Pailan Arrows continue to suffer in the top division.

Mohun Bagan welcomed Sunil Chhetri back into their line-up as the Indian international made his first appearance in the I-League since suffering an injury in the Challenge Cup. Pailan Arrows started with two strikers upfront in Bijendra Rai and C.S.Sabeeth.

It was Pailan Arrows who started better as they launched an attack in the very first minute as Bagan would thank Anwar Ali for clearing the danger.  A couple of minutes later Odafa Okolie’s header was blocked and from a counterattack, and Jibon Singh fluffed his shot which allowed Kingshuk Debnath to make the stop.

Probir Das’ pace caught Mohun Bagan napping as it was his pass for Bijendra Rai inside the box which saw Syed Nabi trip the the Pailan striker from behind. The referee waived off appeals from the developmental side to the surprise of everyone.

Barreto was by far the best player for the Green and Maroon brigade as he did well to find Odafa who went past a couple of players to see his shot go over. A minute later, the Brazilian’s snapshot was well kept out by Naveen Kumar.

Surkumar Singh was wasteful in possession and Rakesh Masih was seen running around aimlessly as he neither tackled nor offered any creativity to the Bagan midfield.

Probir Das was fouled from behind, this time the guilty party being Anwar, however the referee once again made another mistake as he denied Pailan Arrows a spot-kick in the 23^rd minute.

Barreto had a crack on goal which saw Naveen put his body to good use to deny the Brazilian as Chhetri failed to pick up the pieces. A few minutes later from a Nabi free-kick, Barreto’s header at the far post could have given Subrata Bhattacharya’s side the lead had it not been for the alertness of Naveen who once again thwarted the Bagan number 10’s effort.

After the break, it took a while for the two sides to find their footing with the first opportunity once again falling to Pailan Arrows as Probir cut inside from the right with ease and saw his shot blocked by Anwar in the 53^rd minute.

Around the hour mark, Jewel Raja’s shot on the turn, after Syed Nabi headed in towards the crowd from a Hudson corner-kick, went over the bar.

A couple of minutes later, Odafa’s fluffed shot saw Naveen Kumar concede a corner-kick from which the first goal was scored. Hudson’s peach of a delivery at the near post saw Barreto rise above the rest and head the ball in.

Thereafter Sukhwinder Singh made a couple of substitutions hoping that it would spur his side on to score the equaliser. However they were quite wasteful and never really had enough bodies in the attack.

Jibon Singh whipped in a cross which Birendra couldn’t rise to meet while Probir had a couple of decent runs but nothing notable in the outcome.

The second goal came in the 77^th minute as Syed Nabi times his run to perfection and flipped the ball past a hapless Naveen Kumar with Jewel Raja providing the finishing touches at the far post.

Pailan Arrows couldn’t come up with any attack to threaten the Bagan defence, which is very weak to say the least.

Mohun Bagan would take heart from the three points earned but they need to improve given that the much awaited derby is coming up in the first week of next month.  Pailan Arrows are a team short on confidence and are several levels down than most of the teams in the I-League which makes one wonder why are they in there in the first place.

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