Kolkata: A 10-man Mohammedan Sporting ’s late fight, embellished with Mahitosh Roy ’s stoppage-time stunner, was not enough as Bengaluru FC edged past them 3-2 at the Salt Lake Stadium here on Tuesday to become the first team to qualify for quarterfinals of the ongoing Durand Cup . The city side played the final 10 minutes of the contest without their goalkeeper Subhajit Bhattacharjee, who was shown a straight red-card by referee Venkatesh R for a foul on Pereyra Diaz outside his box. BFC ended their Group B campaign with a perfect record.
Playing the tournament with their all-Indian reserve side, Mohammedan Sporting’s hopes for qualifying are as good as over having managed just 1 point in 2 matches. A header from Aleksandar Jovanovic (7th minute) and Dipu Halder’s own goal in the 22nd minute gave Bengaluru a handy 2-0 lead in the first half. The lead was swelled when Vinith Venkatesh made it 3-0 with a beautiful left-footed curler on the hour mark.
Mohammedan Sporting under Hakim Ssengendo then added a twist to the tale in the 77th minute, with Israfil Dewan’s glancing header off Ashley Koli’s cross beating Lalthuammawia Ralte — who substituted Gurpreet Singh Sandhu under the BFC bar — all ends up. Md Sporting soon lost their goalkeeper for the needless foul and defender Dipu Halder, who took his place under the bar, came up with a diving save of substitute Sunil Chhetri’s resultant freekick. Despite the disadvantage, the local side refused to give up and M.