Vishal Kaith's twin saves in the tiebreaker helped defending champions Mohun Bagan make a splendid comeback from two goals down to edge star-studded Bengaluru FC 4-3 (2-2 after full-time) to reach the Durand Cup final for a record 30th time in Kolkata on Tuesday.
After an intense shooting in the tiebreaker where both teams were locked three-all, a composed Kaith, who had also stood tall under the bar in their tie-breaker win over Punjab FC in the quarters last week, thwarted the strikes of Halicharan Narzary and Aleksandar Jovaovic to seal the match.
The record 17-time champions Mohun Bagan will face NorthEast United FC in the summit clash here on Saturday.
Jason Cummings, Manvir Singh, Liston Colaco and Dimitri Petratos, who stood-in as skipper after Subahsish Bose's 30th minute injury, struck the other four goals in the tie-breaker.
Bengaluru FC's three strikes came from Edgar Mendez, Rahul Bheke and Pedro Capo.
Bengaluru earlier went ahead through goals by legendary Sunil Chhetri (42nd) and youngster Vinith Venkatesh (50th).
Bagan made spirited comeback through Dimitri Petratos (68th), and Anirudh Thapa (84th).
On a day when Howrah and the western part of the metropolis turned into a 'war zone' due to clashes between police and protesters over the rape and murder case at the RG Kar Medical College, normalcy returned to Salt Lake Stadium as Bagan finally got to play at the venue.
However, there was significant disappointment for the 20,000-odd fans who managed to reach the stadium despite the clashes, as Bengaluru led by two goals for more than an hour.
Bengaluru tried to make an early dent and were awarded a penalty in the 41st minute after the promising Vinith was brought down by Colaco as Chhetri added another goal to his tally with his consummate strike from the spot.
A defensive lapse from Bagan allowed Jorge Pereyra Diaz to get through with the goalkeeper out of his place. Diaz played it to Vinith, who calmly slotted the ball into the empty net to double the lead.
Manvir Singh was fouled with a pull from the back inside the box to be awarded a penalty in the 66th minute that finally turned around Bagan's fortunes.
Petratos' powerful right-footed hit from the spot reduced Mohun Bagan's deficit by one goal as Gurpreet Singh Sandhu dived the wrong way.
After a cleared corner, Thapa unleashed a powerful right-footed strike that flew into the corner of the net before Sandhu could react to restore parity just five minutes before the final whistle.
