Bagan make it three in a row

A 10-man Mohun Bagan defeated JCT 2-0 to register their hat-trick of wins in the ONGC I-League at the floodlit Yuba Bharati Krirangan at Salt Lake in Kolkata on Sunday.

Bagan, who dominated from the outset, sealed the match in the first 30 minutes itself after man-of-the-match Ishfaq Ahmed and Jose Ramirez Barreto scored a goal each.

With the brisk and well-connected Baichung Bhutia-Jose Ramirez Barreto combination up front, JCT defenders Anwar, Baldeep Singh Junior could hardly make inroads.

Mohun Bagan drew first blood in the 14th minute helped by some poor goalkeeping from Karanjit Singh.

It was James Singh who set the ball rolling as his cross from the right went into a no man's land, creating confusion among the JCT defenders. Ishfaq, however, was quick to spot it and though he was tackled by Amandeep Singh, the former headed it home as their custodian Karanjit was slow to react.

Bagan had a golden chance to double the lead minutes later but N S Manju missed a sitter as he made a mess of Marcos Pereira's corner kick.

A dubious penalty conversion saw Bagan complete the scoreline in the 30th minute after Julius Akpele pushed Barreto inside the box and the ace Brazilian striker did nothing wrong to put it past Karanjit to make it 2-0 for Bagan.

JCT, however, had their chances but they lacked in finishing.

At the stroke of half time, the green-and-maroon brigade was reduced to 10-man when their central defender Peter Odafe was shown a second yellow card of the match.

Odafe was first warned in the 12th minute when he tackled Sakhtar Singh from behind. He earned his second card of the day in the 43rd minute, committing the same mistake against Jagpreet Singh.

The win over JCT saw Bagan improve their their position to sixth spot with 12 points, three ahead of the Phagwara side.