McDowells Mohun Bagan 3 (Odafa Okolie – 35th & 84th and Jose Barreto – 86th)
Beat
Chirag United Kerala 1 (Anil Kumar – 47th)
KOCHI: Odafa Okolie scored a brace to help McDowells Mohun Bagan beat Chirag United Kerala 3-1 in the 18th round I League encounter played at the
Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium, Kochi on Tuesday.
Odafa scored twice off penalty in 35th and 84th minute while Jose Barreto scored apiece in 86th minute. Anil Kumar scored the solitary goal for Chirag United in 47th minute.
Bagan were playing without Sunil Chhetri and Syed Rahim Nabi. But the duo of Odafa Okolie and Jose Barreto proved to be enough to rattle the low on confidence home side.
The home side started on a positive note with Anil Kumar and David Sunday who are playing upfront in the absence of Ajayan, looked to have been working well for Chirag. But their dominance lasted only for the 30 minutes as their opponents were at their attacking best.
The first goal was scored off penalty by Odafa who made no mistake to give the lead to the maroon brigade in the 35th minute. The scoreline remained unchanged till the halftime.
Changing over, Chirag United equalised when Anil Kumar slotted in off Asif's lofted pass just a two minutes into the second half.
Chirag upped their game after scoring the goal and managed to create couple of chances upfront. But fortunes were overturn in the 84th minute as Odafa again scored from spot, when Jimshad U handled the ball on the goalline, prompting referee Rowan to show the second red card and award a penalty.
There was still time left for one more goal as Jose Barreto found the back of the net to score the third goal for Bagan in the 86th minute.
Odafa Okolie was adjudged man of the match.
Mohun Bagan now have 33 points from 18 matches just one point behind East Bengal and four behind leaders Dempo SC. While Chirag stay on 11points from 17 outings.