KOLKATA: Mohammedan Sporting Club beat Army XI 1-0 on Friday to kick start their 2016/17 Calcutta Premier Division – A campaign at Mohammedan Sporting Club Ground.
Striker Manvir Singh sturck the lone goal in the 15th minute which earned Mohammedan Sporting’s first ever competitive match victory over Army XI.
Mohammedan SC head coach Mridul Banerjee started with experienced Vinay Singh in goal. Rana Gharami partnered Lancine Toure in central defense with Nitesh Chhikara and Kamran Farooque as the sidebacks. Mumtaz Akhtar and Dipankar made up the midfield while Imran Khan and Sheikh Faiaz operated from the flanks. Leonce Dodoz and Manvir started upfront.
The Black Panthers started off brightly and had the first chance to take the lead as early as the 5th minute but Dodoz headed straight to Army XI goalkepeer Sarath Narayan off an Imran Khan free-kick.
Mohammedan SC, then, six minutes later got another chance but Faiaz failed to keep his effort on target from Dipankar’s cross.
However, Mohammedan SC finally broke the deadlock in the 15th minute when Manvir slotted past Sarath after receving a pass from Chhikara on the right side.
Having scored, Moahmedan SC increased their pressure and had few more close attempts, but Sarath successfully kept Mohammedan SC attackers at bay.
Army XI managed to up their game towards the end but the strike pair of Arjun Tudu and Jain P. both were denied by a well drilled and organized Mohammedan SC defense led by Rana and Toure, as the scoreline read 1-0 for Mohammedan SC at the break.
On resumption of play, Army XI made some desperate efforts to come back into the match, however the Mohammedan SC defense along with their keeper proved a hard nut to crack.
In the 52nd minute, Anthony Chettri beautifully sent a through pass to Mukesh Kumar, however the latter’s right footed effort was kept away by the diving Mohammedan SC keeper Vinay.
At the other end, Dipankar ran down the right flank and sent a low cross inside the Army XI box, however Sarath came with a timely collection before onrushing Faiaz could do any damage.
Army XI, having created numerous half chances, went extremely close on two occasions midway through the session. First it was substitute Santu Subba whose headed effort off an corner was denied by Vinay in the 65th minute.
Then Vinay followed it up with another save five minutes later, this time to block Tudu who smashed a powerful low drive from outside the box.
Meanwhile, Dodoz should be credited for the miss of the day as he failed to keep the ball on target after dodging past Sarath in the 73rd minute.
In the final quarter, both sides engaged in an end-to-end battle but no more goals had been scored in the match.
Rana, who performed brilliantly in his first match as the Mohammedan SC captain, has been named Man of the Match.
Mohammedan SC will face Tollygunge Argagami next on 9th August at the same venue while Army XI will take on East Bengal at Barasat on 12th August.
Report & Photo By Debabrata Majumder.
