Bagan enter Airlines
Gold Cup final

Mohun Bagan entered the final of the 18th All-Airlines Gold Cup football tournament, defeating Tata Football Academy 2-1 in the semi-finals at the Vidyasagar stadium in Barasat, West Bengal, on Thursday.

Bagan led 1-0 in the first-half.

Sunil Chhetri and Jose Ramirez Barreto scored for the Kolkata giants, while substitute Bimal Pariya got TFA's goal.

The red and maroon brigade will meet Tollygunge Aggragami in the deferred final after their Asian Football Club Championship match in South Korea.

The final, scheduled for November 9, has been deferred by the organisers as Bagan leave for South Korea on November 10 and were not willing to face a tough side before their crucial AFC match.

A disjointed Bagan squad, without a number of stars like Baichung Bhutia, George Ekeh and Renedy Singh, had to fight hard to prevail over the young Tata academy boys.

"Such a schedule before a major international tournament should have been avoided," said Bagan coach Subrata Bhattachatrya, while reacting on his team's performance against TFA.

Chhetri opened the account on the 18th minute, nodding home a Basudev Mondal centre from the left flank, while Barreto scored the second goal before his exit due to a muscle pull, in the 50th minute.

In the 79th minute, TFA striker Bimal reduced the margin. He accepted a through and beat goalkeeper Rajat Ghosh Dastidar.