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Hosts Club Valencia of the Maldives shared a 1-1 draw with India’s Mohun Bagan AC in the first leg of their AFC Cup – South Zone Playoff qualifier at the National Stadium in Malé on Tuesday afternoon.
Mohun Bagan fielded a depleted side without regulars Sony Norde, Jeje Lalpekhlua and Debjit Majumder. But the Kolkata giants had the perfect start as Scottish striker Darryl Duffy opened the scoring in the fifth minute beating the Club Valencia keeper off a pass from midfielder Prabir Das.
After taking the lead Mohun Bagan continued to control the match, but the longer it lasted the more they allowed Club Valencia a chance to get back into the game. In the 71st minute, Mohun Bagan defender Subhasish Bose committed a handball and Nigerian Godfrey West Omodu’s scored the resultant penalty to equalise.
Both sides had chances to win the tie, but it ended in a one-all draw. With the result, both sides will have it all to play for in next Tuesday’s second leg at the Rabindra Sarobar Stadium in Kolkata.
The winner of the playoff tie will qualify for the 2017 AFC Cup – South Asia group stage -Group E to join 2016 AFC Cup runners-up and Indian I-League champions Bengaluru FC, Maldives Premier League champions Maziya S&RC and Bangladesh champions Dhaka Abahani.
