Dora carries Bagan into quarters

Mohun Bagan were the winners against the run of play. The team was rusty, this being their first match after the recent inter-club transfers. There was no fluidity and Cheema Okeria was a pale shadow of his former self, muffing up three good chances and the well-built Punjab Police players called all the shots in the energy-sapping first half during which time Mohun Bagan were lucky to go into the second half, with a one-goal advantage.

What made matters worse for Punjab Police was that their strikers were too pedictable, taking long range shots, giving ample time for goalkeeper Dora to make his moves. Punjab Police were distinctly unlucky.

With the expected fluidity lacking from the Bagan forwards, Punjab Police dominated the show. Mohun Bagan coach Amal Dutta attributed the lack of cohesion to the short time in which they had to prepare for this match and further, they were experimenting with a new system which would take time to become effective.

Bagan scored against the run of play when Basudeb Mondal took goalkeeper Satish Kumar by surprise by shooting accurately from outside the box. Mondal collected the pass from Ranjan Dey cleanly, dodged a couple of defenders before taking his shot at the goal. Satish Kumar was guilty of poor anticipation so much so that even though he reached for the ball, he failed to keep it out of the goal. This was in the 20th minute of the first half.

A little later, Sunil Kumar of Punab Police fumbled with an excellent opportunity when he had only the advancing goalkeeper to beat. Instead of lobbing the ball over, he shot straight into him.

Balwinder Singh came up with a fine shot at the goal but goalkeeper Dora cleared at the expense of an action-filled abortive corner. Swaran Singh who took the corner-kick, sent the ball floating into the centre, which Kuljit Singh headed nicely but Dora quickly sensing danger moved well to block it. Narender tried to score off the rebound but failed.

After a series of misses, Punjab Police were not to be denied when Narender scored off a pass from Kuljith after the ball had come to him from Kuldip to equalise the scores in the 10th minute of the second half.

Punjab Police seemed to have reserved their best for the first half as they faltered in the second half. The pace of the game continued to be slow, as the teams struggled to piece together fast, breakaway moves. Punjab Police could have clinched the issue in the first half of the extra time but a brilliant attempt by Major Singh, following a free-kick was thwarted by goalkeeper Dora.

With the teams muffing up opportunities, the match was destined to end in the tie-breaker. For Punjab Police, Major Singh, Devinder Singh and Swaran Singh was successful, with Harnek Singh and Buta Singh bungling. For the winners, Aloke Das, Cheema Okerie, Satyajit Chaterjee and Dora scored while Ranjan Mazhi was off target.