Kolkata: Dropping points after goalless draws, defending champions Mohun Bagan Super Giant and the Indian Super League’s current toppers East Bengal will play Saturday’s Kolkata derby with both on 22 points after 11 rounds. East Bengal are in pole position on goal difference.
Form and reputation do not matter in the derby and Mohun Bagan will draw solace from that. Against Inter Kashi, they looked disjointed and, as the clock wound down, desperate. Subhasish Bose was booked for diving and few would have complained had that been a second yellow for the left-back who went unpunished for running into Rohit Danu after play had stopped. As the lights dimmed at Salt Lake stadium after the 0-0, chants of “go back, go back” were heard.
Not blessed with height and then hit by a back injury, former goalkeeper Abhijit Mondal managed to forge a career with Dempo where he won the I-League, then India’s apex competition, multiple times. When he went for back surgery early in the 2000s, Mondal had not told his family fearing they would advise otherwise given that he could be bed bound for life.
On Tuesday, Mondal infused some of that doughtiness into a team he has taken charge only because Antonio Lopez Habas, the man who has won ISL more times than anyone else, left as he had lost trust in the management. Mondal had in his corner another former goalkeeper in Arindam Bhattacharja who has been part of Inter Kashi’s journey into the top tier as a player. Together, they shut the door on Mohun Bagan and threw away the key .
They added fresh legs with a triple substitution in the 73rd minute. David Munoz was one of the players going off because he looked visibly out of gas. The Spanish central defender was instrumental in shutting out Mohun Bagan with timely blocks. Making one such clearance late in the first half, Munoz exhorted his mates to stay organised. There were two more near the hour mark to prevent Sahal Abdul Samad from being on the scoresheet.
Narender Gahlot, Munoz’s partner in the heart of the defence, got just enough to prevent an angular pass from Dimitrios Petratos from reaching Jason Cummings, in the 17th minute. It encapsulated the grit from the I-League champions of last season against the most expensive roster in India. As did goalkeeper Shubham Dhas getting a leg out to deny Jamie Maclaren in the 85th minute. From the corner-kick, Thomas Aldred failed to keep a free header on target. It summed up Mohun Bagan’s night.
Inter Kashi also showed Mohun Bagan’s lack of imagination in breaking a disciplined defence. Beyond Petratos trying to find Cummings with long passes over the defence, there was little else Mohun Bagan tried in breaking Inter Kashi’s mid-block in the first half. Lack of football in Manvir Singh’s legs showed and Robinho was anonymous in the first half, his replacement Liston Colaco only a little more active.
Mohun Bagan continued to draw a blank from corner-kicks and it has now been over 100 of them that they have not been able to convert this season. Most of their corner-kicks and free-kicks failed to clear the first defender. Head coach Sergio Lobera has spoken of working on this but it has been quite a fall for a team that set an ISL record for scoring from set-pieces last season.
Lobera had rested six regulars possibly to keep them fresh for Saturday but little changed after Colaco, Jamie Maclaren, Bose, Kiyan Nassiri and Anirudh Thapa were brought on. This was their second successive draw after 1-1 away to FC Goa at the weekend.
The best chances fell to Inter Kashi. In the ninth minute, Mohamed Asif failed to direct a shot into an empty goal after the impressive Alfred Planas and Nauris Petkevicius combined to slice open Mohun Bagan’s defence in the ninth minute. In the 92nd minute, Rohit Danu broke free but was denied by Vishal Kaith. The hugs and huddles in the Inter Kashi dug-out, Munoz reaching out to congratulate Mondal, was proof that they didn’t mind missing out on a win.
