Today five players of Mohun Bagan was shown yellow card because of which four of them will miss the last match, the players being Manju, Lalkamal, Marcos and Masih. Refereeing was pathetic today and he made many mistakes today, disallowing a certain goal scored by Bhaichung and not showing Mahesh a certain red card.

In the last round match, Mohun Bagan will face Mahindra United in Ambedkar Stadium, New Delhi while Churchill will host Mohammedan Sporting in Goa. Mohun Bagan will have to win the last match and hope that Mohammedan manage to hold Churchill, in that case Mohun Bagan will become champions, but if Churchill gets 3 points from the last match, they will get the title for the first time irrespective of result of Mohun Bagan match. All the final round matches will be played on April 16th.

The first 15 minutes or so of the match was evenly poised. Dempo had their first positive move in 13th minute when Clifford released the ball from left flank that was going towards Ranty but Odafe made a timely clearance by heading the ball out. Dempo got three consecutive corners but defence and Sangram stood firm and averted danger. In 19th minute, a spectacular side volley by Bhaichung narrowly missed target from Habibur center. In 26th minute, Bhaichung was shown yellow card for handling the ball while trying to score. Barreto scored the first goal in 27th minute. James gave a forward pass to Marcos who found Barreto free on the right side, Barreto unleashed a right footed shot that beat Abhijit Mandal and went into goal. In 34th minute, a certain goal of Bhaichung was disallowed by referee, he had headed the ball in from Marcos free kick. Television replay showed it was a certain goal. In the next minute, Marcos was shown yellow card. Dempo got a free kick in 36th minute, Beto took the shot which was saved by Sangram. Just before lemon break, Bhaichung made a good solo run and gave a pass to Ishfaq in the left who got lot of space and time to take a shot but shot wide.

There was lot of drama after lemon break. Dempo players took lot of time to come out. Coach Armando Colaco said in press conference, "We came out late because of security reasons. After match commissioner assured us, we decided to play." In 49th minute, from Marcos free kick, Manju leaped nicely to head the ball but ball went over crossbar. In 50th minute, Mahesh unneccesarily pushed Bhaichung near center circle, referee first took out the red card to show it to Mahesh (he was booked in first half and so another card would have resulted in him being send out) but Dempo players leady by Beto surrounded the referee and referee who had absolutely no control over the game changed his decision and did not show any card. Dempo scored the equalizing goal in 55th minute, Beto released the ball for Anthony in right flank whose center found Ranty unmarked in the box and Ranty headed the ball which went inside goal hitting crossbar. In 66th minute, Lalkamal gave a good through pass in the box for Barreto but this time he fumbled a bit and his push was saved by goalkeeper. In the next minute, Ranty took a shot from edge of Bagan box that was brilliantly saved by Sangram diving to his left. In 68th minute, Lalkamal was shown yellow card. Karim made two quick changes in a span of 2 minutes, in 69th minute, he brought in Branco in place of James Singh Sr. and in 71st minute Rakesh Masih came in place of Lalkamal. In 80th minute, from Marcos corner, Bhaichung headed the ball towards Branco who got the ball in an advantageous position inside box but handled the ball and the chance went begging. In 90th minute, Rakesh passed the ball to Manju in left flank who delivered a great cross and Barreto nicely flicked the ball that was going in by first post, but Abhijit made a brilliant save. In the next minute, this time it was Barreto who gave a cross from right side but Rakesh's header missed by a whisker and went over crossbar. In 93rd minute, Dempo got a great chance, this time it was 4 Dempo players attacking against 2 Mohun Baganis defending and Sangram was standing at edge of box, Beto could not take the shot properly and Sangram cleared the ball. Rakesh got the ball around center circle and sent a long pass towards Barreto in the left side of the box, he went past one player and gave a brilliant center towards Manju who nicely leaped and headed the ball in. Credit should be given to Manju for being in the right scoring position at right time. After the goal, due to celebrating and taking off the jersey, Manju and Rakesh was shown yellow card. Referee could have easily overlooked this incident. Four players of Mohun Bagan, Marcos, Manju, Lalkamal and Rakesh will miss the all important last round match against Mahindra on April 16th. Barreto was adjudged Man of the Match for his brilliant performance.

Coach Karim was very unhappy with many decisions of referee. He said, "We were the better team today but there were far too many bad decisions from referee that not only affected us in this match but also in our next match we will miss 4 players. I have full faith in All India Football Federation. I sincerely hope they put observer in all the matches to be held on 16th." He also thanked the crowd and added, "A big thank you for the crowd, their support is a very important factor in our win. I hope many people attend our next match in New Delhi. Today in the injury time, I urged the supporters to cheer more and I said to them that I needed your help now. They really cheered a lot in last 4 minutes." He also said, "I hope we win the I league. We deserve to win this league."

We had a short interview of our coach Karim after the match.

Question: Congrats for winning today's match.

Karim: Thank you very much.

Question: Do you think Mohun Bagan will be able to win I league?

Karim: Let us hope so. We will have to win our last match and hope something positive happen for us in the other match in Goa.

Question: What were your thoughts on bringing on Rakesh in place of Lalkamal?

Karim: Well, firstly I wanted to bring in a fresh leg. Also I wanted to use his strength in dead ball situation inside opponent penalty box. He was involved in the winning goal, he gave the long ball towards Barreto.

Question: You made a few strategical changes in 2nd half.

Karim: In first half we played 4-4-2. When we brought in Branco we switched over to 4-3-3, with Barreto, Bhaichung and Branco being forward and Marcos being the holding midfielder and Ishfaq and Rakesh in the flanks, but then I saw a huge gap was forming between Bhaichung and Marcos, so I used Diamond system for last 10 minutes or so which is 4-3-1-2 bringing Barreto down a little bit to form a bridge between forward and midfield. In injury time, I asked Manju to go up and try to flick the ball for Branco and Bhaichung and also go for header in the box during setpiece and other movements. At that time, we played with three defenders.

Question: You will miss 4 players in next match. Have you thought about whom to use in midfield in place of Rakesh, Lalkamal and Marcos?

Karim: I have been thinking about few options but would not like to disclose that now.

Question: Do you want to make any comment on Barreto.

Karim: What can I say about him? Barreto is Barreto. I am very lucky to have such a player in my team. He is a great player. All the other players are also very good in my team.

Question: Congrats once again for the win and best of luck for Mahindra match.

Karim: Thanks a lot.

TEAM: Sangram, Dipak, Manju, Odafe, Habibur, Ishfaq, Marcos, Lalkamal (Masih 71'), James Singh Sr. (Branco 69'), Bhaichung, Barreto.