Chennai City holds Bagan

I-League leader Mohun Bagan was held to a 1-1 draw by defending champion Chennai City FC at the Municipality Stadium in Kalyani on Thursday.

Papa Babacar Diawara continued his blistering form in front of goal, finding the back of the net for the eighth game on the trot. His strike broke the deadlock at the stroke of half-time, but Man-of-the-Match Katsumi Yusa came back to haunt his former club, netting the equaliser for Chennai City in the second half.

Bagan gaffer Kibu Vicuna made three alterations to his starting eleven. Gurjinder Kumar and Ashutosh Mehta were called upon, while Shilton D’Silva made a rare start in midfield. CCFC head coach Akbar Nawas fielded just one change, with Jishnu Balakrishnan making way for Rohit Mirza.

Chances were abundant for either side to score in the first half, but the visitor squandered its early openings. In the eighth minute, Katsumi’s delightful long ball put Jockson Dhas through on goal but the latter fumbled just as he was about to take the shot, allowing centre-back Fran Gonzales to recover the ball.

Three minutes later, Katsumi again created a good opening for ‘Fito’ Miranda. Taking on Ashutosh and Fran Morante, he squared the ball back for Fito, whose shot was kept out by home custodian Sankar Roy. Then, Jockson had an ambitious crack from distance and it almost paid off as the shot took a deflection off Fran before hitting the crossbar.

Bagan slowly started to get a grip on the proceedings and in the 32nd minute was awarded a free-kick in an inviting position. Joseba Beitia’s stepped up for the dead ball and was denied by fine margins again. He got the curl and elevation right, getting the ball up and over the wall, but the woodwork came to the holder’s rescue.

The game seemed to be headed level-pegging into the break but Chennai City was caught napping at the stroke of half-time.

In the final minute of the first half, Morante’s long ball found Nongdamba Naorem, who darted forward and left Rohit completely at bay.

Diawara’s positional instinct was there for everyone to see yet again, giving Naorem an option to his right. Just when Eslava seemed to have closed him down, Naorem squared it across for Diawara, who exquisitely slotted home. The setback in the dying seconds prompted a response from CCFC in the second half.

In the 68th minute, Jockson outsmarted Fran with an exquisite turn and that gave him acres of space to run on the right flank. He found Katsumi, lurking near the far post, with an immaculate low-driven delivery across goal and the veteran made no mistake in finding the net.

Bagan could have won the match at the death, but Nauzet Santana made an outstanding save to parry a Diawara header in the 86th minute. With the result, Bagan remains top with 36 points, while Chennai City stays seventh with 20 points.