Meanwhile, in another development, Dipak Mandal will likely miss the derby match against East Bengal on 25th October as AIFF has decided to extend his suspension by 1 match. AIFF will have a meeting on 14th October to decide on the fate of Dipak.

Coach Karim had a nightmare before today's match as he had as many as 9 players unavailable. Biswajit Saha made his debut in left back and Mandi paired with Masih in central defence with Surkumar back from suspension in right back position. The midfield had Snehashish and James operating the two flanks while Marcos and Subho Kumar played in central midfield. Suraj played as striking partner of Chiddi.

Mohun Bagan played well today and got many chances to score. Chiddi alone missed three easy chances. Viva only once got one clear look at the goal.

Chiddi was in the thick of action in 9th minute when he headed the ball out from close distance. Snehasish who was the Man of the Match today was in supreme form today as his run down the left flank caused panic in Viva defence time and again. In 14th minute, he got a pass from Marcos, made a run, and when he was about to cut in to enter box, Viva defence intercepted to clear danger. However, in 17th minute, Snehasish made another darting run, entered the box past 2 players and gave a back pass to unmarked Chiddi who could not control the ball properly, thus wasting a very easy chance to score.

After initial pressure from Mariners, Viva players took control of the midfield for 15-20 minutes and played lot of passes among themselves but most of their attack resulted in long ranger shots which did not seem to bother Shilton much. Marcos today played well as the holding medio and provided good support to the defence. In 28th minute, a long ball from midfield went to Reuben who controlled the ball nicely, dribbled past Rakesh but Mandi who was the last man in front of goalkeeper made a brilliant tackle to avert danger.

In 39th minute, Mohun Bagan missed the easiest chance of the match. The corner was a well rehearsed one with James floating the ball for Marcos, who back headed the ball to Chiddi who surprisingly shot over crossbar from handshaking distance of the goal. Chiddi almost amend his error in the next minute when he took a rasping shot from edge of the box which goalkeeper dived to his left to make a good save.

Another chance went begging in 42nd minute, when from James' well measured cross, Chiddi leaped nicely to head the ball but it was not well directed and went out.

The second half saw a resurgent Mohun Bagan with lots of passes in midfield and team looked to pile pressure on visitors. Mariners scored the first goal in 52nd minute. Surkumar made a down the middle run and took a powerful shot from distance which took a bounce in front of goalkeeper and he could not collect the ball properly, Snehashish who was following up brilliantly pushed the ball inside goal past the goalkeeper from an acute angle. In 53rd minute, from Marcos center, Chiddi headed the ball out. Nothing to take away from Chiddi, who is trying his best, has very good position sense as a striker, but unfortunately he is not being able to convert the chances that he is getting. In 65th minute, he connected the ball from James free kick but his head again missed the goal by a whisker.

Coach Karim then made couple of changes bringing on Ishfaq and Tomba in place of Suraj and James. Tomba Singh who last played competitive football about 2 years back showed good touch today and made few good moves down the right flank. Inclusion of Ishfaq also helped to build up more pressure.

The only positive chance of Viva Kerala came in 77th minute when Reuben got a loose ball inside penalty box, but his shot was brilliantly intercepted by Marcos, and the ball went out for corner.

In 88th minute, Ishfaq's cross from left flank deflected off a Viva player, both goalkeeper and Chiddi charged towards the ball, but Chiddi failed to make any connection and the ball went straight across the face of the goal.

The final replacement for Mariners came in the form of Manish replacing Snehasish in 90th minute. Manish's second touch resulted in 2nd goal of Mohun Bagan in injury time. Chiddi sent an excellent cross from left side which went to Manish who placed the ball nicely inside goal.

After match, Karim said:

1. I am happy with the way team played today. We played really well in 2nd half.

2. We missed few chances today. Chiddi is a human being afterall, he will have his bad days. We need to give him confidence so that he starts scoring again.

3. Today refereeing was much better.

4. I am happy with the way Biswajit and Manish played today. Both of them have a very good future.

5. East Bengal match is another match for us. We are still behind Churchill, Dempo. We will have to play well to catch these teams in terms of points.

The player of Asian quota, Youssef Meziane, has arrived in Kolkata last night and will be starting his trial from tomorrow.

Mohun Bagan will have their practice session tomorrow at 11 a.m. for players who were not in the starting XI. Day after tomorrow, i.e. October 14th, Mohun Bagan will participate in a practice match where mainly the players who were not part of starting lineup today will play. There might be another practice match on 16th. After 15th till 19th, team will practice in Mohun Bagan ground.

On October 20th, Mariners will likely play their first Kolkata league match against Kalighat. From October 21st to 24th, Mohun Bagan will shift their practice venue to Salt Lake Stadium again as a part of preparation for the all important I league match against East Bengal on October 25th.

PICTURE COURTESY: Subir Majumder