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Sourav Roy’s 4th minute goal was cancelled out by Philip Adjah Tetteh’s late strike as Rainbow AC were held to a 1-1 draw by Mohammedan Sporting Club in their 2018/19 Second Division League preliminary round encounter on Thursday at Barasat Stadium.
On the balance of play, Mohammedan Sporting will feel they should have sneaked it as they dominated proceedings and created better goalscoring chances.
They will surely be kicking themselves for not burying numerous goal-scoring opportunities they created, especially in the later stages of the encounter.
But in the end, the result was perhaps a fair reflection of the action on show. Both teams had periods of dominance and numerous scoring opportunities.
Mohammedan Sporting had a few promising moments early on, but were kept in check by Rainbow AC’s defence of Emmanuel Chigozie and Enjamul Haque. It was at the other end, however, where the opening goal arrived and it was winger Sourav Roy who scored to give Rainbow AC the lead in the 4th minute.
The setback galvanized Mohammedan Sporting into action and they poured forward in search of an equaliser. The Rainbow AC defense, while under pressure at this stage, held firm and ensured that they retained the advantage going into the break.
Changing over, Mohammedan Sporting were clearly the better side in terms of possession and chances created.
The Black Panthers were all over Rainbow AC and asking more and more questions. Rainbow AC goalkeeper Dibyendu Sarkar produced a glorious save to keep Suman Ghoshal’s charges at bay when he denied Pankaj Moula in a one-on-one inside the box, diving full length to stop the ball from going in.
Rainbow AC, though, were always dangerous on the break and, in the 58th minute, they had a wonderful opportunity, but Mohammedan Sporting custodian Laltu Mondal saved to deny Joel Sunday from scoring.
Mohammedan Sporting dominated as the game drew to a close and the pressure eventually told as Adjah scored the all-important goal from the spot to level the score for Mohammedan Sporting in the 88th minute. The penalty was awarded to Mohammedan Sporting after substitute Stephenson Pale forced Enjamul Haque to commit handball inside the box.
Having scored, Mohammedan Sporting showed more endeavour in attack and it took everything Rainbow AC had left in their tank to deny the onslaught from The Black Panthers. Dibyendu also made a number of telling saves to a salvage a point for his side.
Mohammedan Sporting were left frustrated by the result as they clearly dominated play and failed to convert their scoring chances rather Rainbow AC stopping the team from scoring.
The Black Panthers will face Chhinga Veng FC next on January 25, 2019 at Aizawl.
