10-man Mohun Bagan clinch CFL title after final-day drama

KOLKATA: Mohun Bagan SG clinched the CFL Premier Division title after a gap of 8 years, scraping past fellow challengers Mohammedan SC 3-2 in a dramatic final-day action at Barasat stadium on Saturday.Sahal Abdul Samad put Bagan in front in the 26th minute but Mohammedan SC finished the first half on level terms after Lalremsanga’s goal in the 42th minute. Bagan then suffered a blow to their ambitions when their goalkeeper Deeprobhat Ghosh was red-carded on the hour mark and Mohammedan SC captain Mahitosh Roy converted the resultant penalty to make it 2-1.Playing with 10 men for than half an hour, Sahal gave Bagan a semblance of hopes with his second goal in the 70th minute and Sayan Banerjee came off the bench to strike four minutes later to clinch the championship for Bastab Roy’s brigade.In a dramatic final day when as many as five teams of the Super 6 stage harbour hopes of winning the trophy, defending champions East Bengal FC demolished Coal India SPA 7-0 to finish second while the match between other two contenders Bhawanipore FC and United SC ended in a goalless stalemate.Bagan finished the championship round with seven points from 3 matches, ahead of East Bengal (5), Mohammedan SC (4) and Bhawanipore (4).On the judgment day, Mohun Bagan and Mohammedan SC entered the contest with four points each and faced a winner-takes-it-all situation. Bastab started his line-up with seven first-team players, including handing Lallianzuala Chhangte a debut in the CFL and showing their desperation for regaining the local league. Yet Deeprobhat’s act of madness when he felled Lalremsanga inside the box as the Mohammedan SC forward tried to get past him, inviting a straight red-card from referee Pratik Mondal and allowing the rivals to go ahead.By that time, news of East Bengal scoring their fifth goal at their home ground — a pre-requite for the red-and-gold side to pip other challengers had both matches at Barasat and Barrackpore ended in draws — reached the Bagan camp.Bastab was forced to rejig his line-up, taking off Chhangte and bringing in second-choice goalkeeper Syed Zahid Hussain and replacing Kiyan Nassiri with Sayan.The move eventually paid off as Sayan — who had contributed immensely to East Bengal’s march to the title last year — settled the nerves and the championship for his new team with a smart finish.At home, East Bengal ended up scripting the biggest margin of victory with goals from Akash Hemram (2), Bijay Murmu (2), Mohammad Bilal (2), Tanmay Das (66 penalty) and Uttam Hansda (90+8). But it was enough for them to deny Bagan their CFL title No. 31.Get the latest Sports News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.