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Bagan, Salgaocar shocked

Joel Antonio

Mohun Bagan had sealed the fourth National Football League title. The celebrations had, however, been put on hold for the champions still had to face-off against their Calcutta arch-rivals East Bengal. But the thousands of Bagan fans who had assembled at the Salt Lake stadium on Wednesday hoping for a dual celebration, were in for a major anti-climax, their spirits soured as East Bengal, falsifying every calculation and prediction, scored a stunning 3-1 victory to spoil the party.

Ghanaian central defender Jackson Agaypong opened the scoring against the run of play in the 20th minute but Jose Barretto parred scores within a minute. However two brilliant goals on either side of the break by the promising defender Phalguni Dutta sealed the issue in favour of East Bengal.

The win may have not altered their position by much, but for East Bengal, the victory was an escape from the throes of despair the team had been snared in for the past many months. And, of course, it was just retribution for the East Bengal coach Bhowmick, who had been criticised throughout the league.

In a brilliant technical gamble which paid off immensely, Bhowmick deployed two defensive screens -- Ranjan Dey and Chnchal Bhattacharye -- in front of the stoppers to neutralise Bagan's three-member heavyweight forwardline which paid dividends in the end.

In the other National League match on Wednesday, Goan champion club Churchill Bros defeated defending champions Salgaocar by the odd goal in three at the Nehru stadium, Margao, Goa.

The win thus assured Churchill Bros of atleast the third place in the League, though there is still a possibility of them finishing runners-up.

Four yellow cards, one red, three goals and lots of pulsating action! That was the story of the Goan derby clash. But while the end-result raised hopes of one, it, dampened the spirits of the other.

Salgaocar, who needed to win this match to pick up the runners-up cheque of Rs 22 lakhs, were pegged back from the first session itself as Churchill took a two-goal cushion with Marcus Carvalho (15th) and Andriy Malchevsky (33rd) finding the target. And though they made some splendid efforts in the second session, Salgaocar could but just reduce the margin as Santos bulged the net in the 87th minute with a header.

Salgaocar's hopes of finishing runners-up now hinge on the Churchill Bros. vs. JCT result on Saturday. Churchill need only a draw but if JCT manage an upset, Salgaocar will need to beat Mahindra and Mahindra on Sunday, the last day of the NFL to clinch the spot.

However a defeat on Sunday could also mean Salgaocar finishing fourth or fifth.