A resurgent Mohun Bagan maintained their winning run with a 1-0 victory over Sporting Club de Goa in a 10th National Football League match in Kolkata on Monday.
After a goalless first half, Dharamjit Singh showed fine opportunism to score the only goal of the flood-lit match.
Bagan's goal came from a fast paced combined move that saw Ibrahim lob from the left into the box and Sushil Singh chase with Sporting goalkeeper Louis Barreto in tow.
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Sushil managed to tap the ball, which ricocheted off the post and was cleared by a Sporting defender. But the ball traveled only as far as Kofi Agbesi, who kept his cool and sent a fine cross, which was headed home by Dharamjit Singh.
With this win Mohun Bagan bolstered their points tally to 14 from 11 matches to climb up to the third position, while Sporting Clube de Goa remain on 16 after 10 outings.
Bagan had the edge throughout the match and could have won by a bigger margin but for their striker who wasted several easy chances.
Sporting, on the other hand, were hamstrung by the ineffectiveness of their deadly striking duo of Dudu Omagbemi and Edeh Chiddih, who were policed to submission by the Bagan defenders. The Bagan defenders, ably marshalled by Brazilian defender Eduardo Coelho put up a splendid performance, taking the punch out of the Goan moves.
Eduardo was adjudged man of the match.