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 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. Bengaluru FC 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 from two matches. A header from Aleksandar Jovanovic (7th minute) and Dipu Halder ’s own goal in the 22nd minute gave Bengaluru FC a handy 2-0 lead in the first half. The lead was further 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. Mohammedan 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 Mahitosh made it 2-3 scoring an absolute stunner from 40 yards out.
But it was too little and too late for them BFC held on to their lead and made it 3 wins in as many matches. In a Group E clash in Kokrajhar, Bodoland FC stunned Odisha FC 2-0..
