Mohun Bagan beat Churchill Brothers 5-0, the gulf between the teams evident in how Sony Norde scored despite being injured and staying on only because the substitutions had been used.
The win took Mohun Bagan to the top of the table by virtue of a better goal difference, +6 to Minerva FC’s +3. Both teams have seven points. Minerva FC host Chennai City on Monday. Mohun Bagan play Shillong Lajong here on Thursday.
Injuries to right-back Arijit Bagui, Ghanefo Kromah and Yuta Kinowaki too could worry Mohun Bagan coach Sanjoy Sen after their second win in three rounds of the I-League. Kinowaki, who had a good game in the 1-0 win against East Bengal last Sunday, had a shoulder injury in the third minute and could be out for a month.
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Kromah opened the scoring in the 23rd minute, Aser Dicka made it 2-0 in the 34th before two early goals in the second half put the match beyond Churchill Brothers. Dicka netted in the 46th minute and Shiekh Faiaz made it 4-0 in the 48th before Norde put the finishing touch in the 84th. After two rounds, Churchill Brothers have leaked seven goals and are yet to log a point.
{{/usCountry}}Kromah opened the scoring in the 23rd minute, Aser Dicka made it 2-0 in the 34th before two early goals in the second half put the match beyond Churchill Brothers. Dicka netted in the 46th minute and Shiekh Faiaz made it 4-0 in the 48th before Norde put the finishing touch in the 84th. After two rounds, Churchill Brothers have leaked seven goals and are yet to log a point.
{{/usCountry}}With a player called Precious, another named Israel and third answering to Monday, Churchill Brothers perhaps have the most interesting roster of the competition. But for a team that signed its first import less than three weeks ago --- central defender Emuejeraye Precious --- the league seems to have come too early for the former champions.
For them to be trying a high line seemed like courting danger and it led to Dicka getting the first of his two goals. A superb pass from Kromah, facing his own goal, set the move going with the Cameroonian’s speed and finishing proving too much for Churchill Brothers to handle.
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Mohun Bagan had gone ahead after Faiaz found Kromah and the Liberian scored against his former club by evading a challenge from central defender Osagie Monday and finding space between two Churchill Brothers’ players to rifle into the left corner.
Whatever comeback the visiting team may have had at the Barasat stadium near here were doused by the Faiaz-Dicka combination. Then, after two assists from the right, Faiaz got to the end of a delivery from Kromah.
Given the leeway to play anywhere he liked, Norde scored making use of the space on the left before cutting sideways and, with three Churchill Brothers’ players virtually in a line, burying the drive into the bottom corner. Late in stoppage time, Dicka perhaps took one touch less with only goalie James Kithan to beat and failed to curl it in. Dicka could have got a hattrick had he also not shot out in the 10th minute. Even otherwise, Mohun Bagan notched up the highest win of the competition, a feat that was East Bengal’s for a night.