Mohammedan Sporting ended their 133rd Durand Cup campaign with a 1-0 win over Indian Navy Football Team (INFT), in a Group B game played here on Tuesday afternoon at the Kishore Bharati Krirangan. Midfielder Sujit Singh scored the only goal of the game in the second quarter of the first half.
Mohammedan Sporting will thus end the group in second place with four points, with the Indian Navy FT being the wooden-spooners of the group, having lost all three of their games. Bengaluru FC moved into the quarterfinals with an all-win record from group B.
The match began with both coaches knowing that they had no chances to qualify from the group. Goalkeeper Nikhil Deka, midfielder KV Salman Faris forward Israfil Dewan was brought in by MDSC coach Hakim Ssengendo to replace forward Ashley Alban Koli, goalkeeper Subhajit Bhattarjee and midfielder Tangva Ragui from the previous game’s starting 11, while Raman Rai the Sailor’s gaffer also made one change, and went for a straight swap with Velutha Kulathil Vishnu in the goalkeeping position, who started in place of Shubham Dhas.
The match was contested in the midfield as both sides failed to penetrate the final third in the early minutes of the game.
Mohammedan’s Lalthankima then got a long ball just near the far post from the left wing but he failed to control it effectively and took too long to shoot. The ball was saved by the Robinson and went behind for a corner which found its way back to a lurking Sujit Singh. The young midfielder curled it with his left foot and found the top left corner, giving the Kolkata giants the lead.
Mohammedan took the lead to the lemon break even as Indian Navy were doing well in their build-up play, but finding it difficult to create chances in the final third.
The second-half saw a little more enterprise, especially from Indian Navy and Sreyas VG got himself a few chances. On the hour mark he took a first-touch volley from inside the box but it went wide. Moments after, Pintu Mahata took another shot from distance that hit the crossbar and was cleared away by Mohammedan in the nick of time.
In the 84th minute Mohammaden was denied a goal as Shiba Mandi got a through ball that found the bottom right corner. However, the referee called offside. After that the Kolkata based club slowed things down to retain their one goal advantage and maintained that to secure their first victory of the tournament.
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