Federation Cup: Jeje’s brace takes Mohun Bagan past Salgaocar
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A brace from Jeje Lalpekhlua and a goal from Abhishek Das helped Mohun Bagan earn a 3-2 win against Salgaocar at Goa in the first leg of the Federation Cup quarter-final. After trailing 1-2 at the end of the first half, the Mariners scored two goals in the second half to take the lead in the tie.
Starting Line-ups:
Salgaocar FC: Karanjit (GK), Duffy (C), Saran, Augustin, Eder, Gabriel, Jackichand, Scott, Reagan, Keenan, Mbarga
Mohun Bagan: Majumder (GK), Yusa (C), Lewis, Kotal, Halder, Debnath, Lenny, Dhanachandra, Sabrosa, Jeje, Subhash
After surrendering the I-League title to Bengaluru FC, 2014/15 I-League champions Mohun Bagan travelled to the Tilak Maidan in Goa to start their Federation Cup campaign. Coach Sanjoy Sen started with Jeje and Subhash Singh upfront with Cornell Glen starting on the bench.
Their opposition on the day, Salgaocar FC, came into the match with uncertainty regarding the future of their coach Santosh Kashyap, who is said to have quit the club. Assistant manager Mario Soares took charge of the team against the
The 13- time Federation Cup winners Mohun Bagan had the perfect start to the match as Jeje opened the scoring with less than one minute into the game. Subhash was the architect behind the goal as he crossed one from the right to give Jeje a simple header to beat Salgaocar goalie Karanjit. It was an early setback for the home side, but rather than going for an all-out attack to find the equaliser, Salgaocar slowly built up their passing game to get back into the match. The ploy worked perfectly as the Greens made it 1-1 in the 26th minute through Scottish midfielder Martin Scott. Saran Singh gave a diagonal pass to Scott and the midfielder made space outside the box
The home side pushed ahead after scoring the equaliser and took the lead in the 31st minute through Cameroonian striker Calvin Mbarga. Mbarga’s striking partner Duffy showed some great skill on the left and whipped in a beautiful cross for the Cameroonian to head it past Majumder. Salgaocar almost scored a third in the dying seconds of the opening half, but an alert Majumder kept the scoreline at 2-1 after saving Duffy’s header.
Salgaocar dominated the opening minutes of the second forty-five with Mbarga and Duffy causing all sorts of problems to the Mohun Bagan backline. Apart from a few chances here and there for the Mariners, it was all Salgaocar as they unleashed attack after attack on the away side’s goal. However, Bagan found their equaliser in the 77th minute totally against the run of play. Substitute Abhishek Das latched on to the cross from Katsumi Yusa and slotted it past Karanjit to make it 2-2 on the day. The match seemed over as Mohun Bagan looked content with the two away goals, but Jeje gave the Mariners the win five minutes from time by smashing one past Karanjit from inside the box.
