ISL 2023-24: Mohun Bagan Super Giant cruises to win against Jamshedpur FC
Mohun Bagan Super Giant returned to winning ways with a comfortable 3-0 win against Jamshedpur FC and rose to the second spot in the current standings in an ISL-10 fixture at the Salt Lake Stadium, here on Friday.
Australian Dimitri Petratos found the lead early in the opening quarter of the action before fellow Australian Jason Cummings and substitute Armando Sadiku found the net once each in the second-half to complete Mohun Bagan’s convincing win over its opponent from the neighbouring city.
Mohun Bagan tallied 33 points from 16 outings to edge out Mumbai City FC (on 32 from 16) to the third spot in the league standings.
Odisha FC leads the table with 35 points but has played a match more than its immediate challengers. Jamshedpur remained in the sixth spot with 20 points from 18 matches.
AS IT HAPPENED: Mohun Bagan vs Jamshedpur FC highlights
After the Mariners failed to beat Odisha in their previous outing at the Kalinga Stadium, Mohun Bagan showed resolve to pick up the full quota of points in front of its home crowd.
The scoring started with Petratos burying the ball in the net with a first-time finish after receiving a cutback from Manvir Singh early in the seventh minute.
Mohun Bagan continued to control the momentum in the first half and could have increased the lead off the efforts of Liston Colaco and Cummings, who came close to scoring but could not beat T.P. Rehenesh in the Jamshedpur goal.
The Red Miners came up with a spirited performance and challenged the qualitative superiority of Mohun Bagan SG with numerous counter-attacks. However, the waywardness of its attackers – Nigerian Daniel Chima Chukwu and substitute Rei Tachikawa – failed to produce the sharpness that could outwit Vishal Kaith in the Mohun Bagan goal.
Jamshedpur could only keep two shots on target out of 19 attempts, while Mohun Bagan showed a better conversion rate, keeping seven shots on target (in 15 attempts), out of which three resulted in goals.
Manvir, who was supported exceptionally well by the Finnish play-maker Joni Kauko, set up yet another assist in the 68th minute that pried open the Jamshedpur defence to see Cummings fishing a well-conceived move.
Sadiku, who came in as a 70th-minute substitute, produced the final goal in the 81st minute as Manvir ran up through the left wing to set up Sadiku with an accurate cutback, as the Albanian rifled the ball into the roof of the net with a left-footed drive.
The efficiency of its foreign recruits in the attacking phase came well for Mohun Bagan, and that was where Jamshedpur failed to find its footing.