Mohun Bagan: Roving menace for the Rovers
Mohun Bagan lifted the I-League title last season. (Source: PTI)
The Last time Singapore’s Tampines Rovers met an Indian side things were eventful. Referee Ali Sabbagh and his assistants Ali Eid and Abdallah Taleb were replaced just hours before the AFC Cup tie against East Bengal following the Lebanese trio’s arrest for allegedly receiving sexual bribes. That was April, 2013.
The Stags have undergone a complete overhaul — in setup and personnel — with V Sundramoorthy taking charge as head coach and nine players coming in from Lions XII after the team was disbanded by Football Association of Singapore in December last year. Rovers have also made a star signing in Jermaine Pennant. On Wednesday at Salt Lake Stadium it however looked like Rovers were yet to gel as a team. Pennant was not available for the game as the club reportedly didn’t register him on time. In the end, 3-1 was a fair result and Bagan were deserved winners. They should have scored at least four in the first half itself. Jeje Lalpekhlua set the tone with a cheeky goal on five minutes. Norde went past Izzdin Shafiq and Kwon Jun and stopped for a while for Dhanachandra Singh to arrive. The latter drove the ball inside the area and Jeje was ahead of his marker to flick it at the far post.
Rovers had opted for an attacking 4-3-3 formation. Bagan coach Sanjoy Sen, on the other hand, preferred a more conservative 4-5-1 with Cornell Glen playing as the lone centre-forward. The side-backs were the visitors’ weak links and Norde and Yusa Katsumi mercilessly exposed their shortcomings.
The hosts should have been 2-0 up on 27 minutes, but Glen couldn’t convert a Katsumi assist from 12 yards out with Rovers ‘keeper Izwan Mahbud at his mercy. The Bagan striker fired it over the bar. Eight minutes later he missed a penalty, hitting at a comfortable height to Mahbud. Then Jeje bungled a sitter before Glen doubled the advantage on 41 minutes. Once again, the excellent Norde set it up, dribbling past five players and finding an unmarked Glen, who somehow managed to sneak it in despite a stumble. Bagan were having a walk in the park until Yasir Hanapi scored from a set-piece two minutes before half-time. He was unmarked inside the six-yard box to head home a Sujad free kick.
The goal made the hosts a tad nervous. They went into a shell after the break. Sundramoorthy tweaked, brining on Jordan Webb for Shafiq and pushing Jun to the right back position to check Norde’s runs.
The changes worked and Bagan were suddenly under the pump. Fazrul Nawaz’s goal on 48 minutes was disallowed for offside but the Singapore club continued to press. They couldn’t find the equaliser though and Katsumi made it 3-1 seven minutes from time, pouncing on substitute Prabir Das’s lay-off from a Norde corner. Towards the end, Jeje was denied twice by Mahbud but by then Bagan had secured a ticket to China where they would be facing Shandong Luneng Taishan on February 2.
