Arunava about Football A look at football & the world through my eyes!
Related Articles
The season opening game of the 11th edition of the I-League ended with a late Minerva Punjab FC equaliser after former champions Mohun Bagan seemed to be cruising to victory with a 1-0 lead to share points at the Guru Nanak Stadium in Ludhiana.
Before the game began, a minute of silence was observed for the former AIFF president Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, who passed away recently. Minerva Punjab FC looked more dominating in the first half and kept most of the possession.
While Mohun Bagan at the other end were more alert and played with caution. All the attack of Minerva Punjab FC came from the left flank in the early moments where Bhutanese forward Chencho tried to break up the Mohun Bagan defence multiple times but failed each time. Sony Norde had a good opportunity to give the away side a lead in the 29th minute but his free-kick just missed the left corner of the goal post. A sheer moment of brilliance from Sony Norde against the run of play in the 43rd minute lead to the first goal of the game. Norde received the ball just ahead of the central defenders, he quickly dribbled the ball to the left beating Dano with his pace before slotting the ball in the bottom left corner.
At the end of the first half-time away side Mohun Bagan lead by a goal to nil against the home team Minerva Punjab FC.
As soon as the second half began there was a sense of urgency in Minerva Punjab’s attacks. Half-time substitute Lago who came in place of Japanese Toshiya was the centre of the action. First, he missed an open chance created by Girik Khosla after a goal-line clearance by Mohun Bagan defence and then moments later he hit the post from a corner in the 58th minute.
The first half goal scorer and Mohun Bagan sharpshooter Sony Norde created another goal scoring opportunity in the 63rd minute but second-half substitute Sheikh Faiaz couldn’t connect to his low cross in front of the empty net. This missed opportunity came to haunt Mohun Bagan later on in the game when Minerva Punjab FC’s second-half substitute Moinuddin scored a volley in the 89th minute to level the match. Moinuddin quickly moved away from his marker and struck the ball sweetly into the bottom left side of the net.
There weren’t any major chances for both teams after the equalizer and the full-time scoreline read, Minerva Punjab FC 1-1 Mohun Bagan.
MATCH STATS
Minerva Punjab FC 1-1 Mohun Bagan AC
Goals: 0-1 Sony Norde (43′), 1-1 Moinuddin (89′)
Minerva Punjab FC: 1-Arshdeep Singh – 3-Sukhdev Singh, 6-Toshiya Hosoe (46′ 39-Lago Dogbo Bei), 7-Chencho Gyeltshen, 9-Bali Gagandeep, 11-Girik Mahesh Khosla (77′ 10-Moinuddin), 16-Kassim Aidara (90’+3 22-Kamalpreet Singh), 24-Guy Eric Dano, 26-Deepak Devrani, 27-Abhishek Ambekar, 42-William Opoku Asiedu
Mohun Bagan AC: 22-Shilton Paul – 28-Gurjinder Kumar (55′ 8-Sourav Das), 4-Kinshuk Debnath, 3-Kingsley Obumneme Eze, 6-Ricky Lallawmawma – 7-Chesterpoul Lyngdoh, (66′ 47-Sheikh Faiaz), 26-Shilton Sydney D’Silva, 29-Raynier Fernandes, 10-Sony Norde – 5-Ghanefo Ansumana Kromah – 9-Aser Pierrick Dipanda Dicka
Referee: Umesh Bora
Man of the Match: Sony Norde (Mohun Bagan AC)
