I-League | Bagan wins five-goal thriller against Chennai City FC

The Kolkata giant, 3-0 ahead at one stage, overcomes a strong challenge from defending champion

Mohun Bagan kept its top slot intact with a hard-fought 3-2 win over defending champion Chennai City FC in the Hero I-League clash at the Nehru Stadium here on Friday.

The home players, facing a formidable opponent, gave it their all. Chennai City looked solid in both attack and defence, and put up a gutsy show.

The Mariners, too, were determined to continue their impressive show. Whenever they managed to break free, they found the Chennai City defenders and goalkeeper Garcia Santana tough to get past. Both sides had their share of corners in the first session, and there were quite a few crosses that went agonisingly close to the net.

Double blow

After holding fort for most part, Chennai City finally succumbed to pressure and Bagan found the back of the net twice in two minutes.

In the 27th minute, Senegal’s Papa Babacar, who was left unmarked, headed home a superb cross from the left. Spaniard Javier Gonzalez was on target too, off another lovely cross from countryman Joseba Beitia. The double blow shocked Chennai City.

The second session followed a similar pattern as Bagan widened the margin (3-0) through Babacar. But, that did not deter the spirit of the Chennai City players who roared back and scored two goals in the space of four minutes to claw back into the contest.

Striking back

N. Vijay, who replaced Swiss Jan Muzangu, fired home a long-ranger in the 65th minute while Jishnu Balakrishnan made it 2-3 with an accurate shot four minutes later.

Though the pressure was on Bagan, particularly the defenders, the visitors managed to ward off the Chennai City threats.

The result: Chennai City FC 2 (N. Vijay 64, Jishnu Balakrishnan 69) lost to Mohun Bagan 3 (Papa Babacar 27 & 49, Javier Gonzalez 29).