KOLKATA: Sony Norde was in top form as Mohun Bagan put three past Salgaocar FC to secure 3-1 victory and establish place at the summit in Hero I-League encounter at the Salt Lake Stadium on Friday evening.
All four goals came in the second half with Denson Devadas (51′), Yusa Katsumi (70′) and Sony Norde (85′) getting in the score sheet for the hosts while Augustin Fernandes (52′) pulled one back for Salgaocar.
The Mariners made three changes to the team that took the field against East Bengal. Balwant Singh, Souvik Chakraborty and Sukhen Dey were replaced by Jeje Lalpekhlua, Bikramjit Singh and Dhanachandra Singh.
The Goan outfit made just one change to their first eleven with Bikash Jairu making way for Gurjinder Kumar.
The home side dominated proceedings early on with Norde in particular posing a real threat to the Salgaocar defence. However, it took 23 minutes for Bagan to create the first clear cut opportunity.
From a corner kick, Katsumi Yusa whipped in a delivery towards the far post where Denson Devdas thumped a header towards goal but Subrata Paul pulled off a save with a dive to his left.
Salgaocar had their best chance of the half three minutes before the break. Daryl Duffy held on to the ball with ease before playing in Gilbert who had acres of space down the right. His shot towards the far post was parried away by Debjit Majumder before Zakeer Mundampara flashed his effort wide from the rebound.
The game burst into life in the second period as Bagan broke the deadlock six minutes in through a Norde free-kick. Bello Rasaq got on the end of the delivery and headed it towards goal before a touch by Denson guided it away from Subrata’s grasp and into the net.
However, Salgaocar produced an instant response right from the restart. Duffy made space for himself and took a shot that forced a save from Debjit who tipped behind for a corner.
From the resultant free-kick, the away side found the equaliser. Bagan failed to clear their lines and Douhou sent a teasing cross into the box that Augustin Fernandes smashed in from close range to restore parity in the 52nd minute.
The encounter was then played at a frantic pace with both sides going at it. Douhou laid a free-kick off for Zakeer who blazed his effort over in the 55th minute before Duffy was flagged offside when he was clean through in the following minute.
On the hour mark, Katsumi’s corner was cleared but Debnath Kingshuk sent the ball back in only for Denson to head just wide off the target.
The Kolkatans then took the lead for the second time in the 70th minute. Norde’s corner was cleared but only as far as Bikramjit Singh whose shot from outside the box was blocked. Boya managed to latch on to the loose ball amidst the melee and toe pokes it towards Subrata who parried it out only for Katsumi to put it into the empty net.
Duffy went clean through on goal again in the 83rd minute and lashed his effort into the roof of the net but was flagged offside.
Norde then put the result beyond doubt with a third for Bagan in the 85th minute. The hosts countered excellently before Norde cut in from the left leaving two defenders for dead and smashing it in from just outside the box, making it 3-1 to the Kolkatans.
In the fourth minute of injury time, Bikramjit was sent off for the second yellow shortly before the full-time whistle as Bagan extended their lead at the top of the table.
