Ten- man Arrows hold Bagan
Kolkata, Dec. 29: Former champions Mohun Bagan failed to make their ‘ home debut’ count as a 10- man Indian Arrows dished out a spirited show to return with a creditable 1- 1 draw in an I- League fixture here on Friday.
A profligate Mohun Bagan took the penalty route to draw first blood in the 27th minute through Aser Pierrick Dipanda Dicka in what appeared to be a contentious decision by the referee.
But their joy was shortlived as the All India Football Federation’s developmental outfit restored parity within six minutes in a fine display of passing football with Rahul Balan slotting it home.
It was Rahim Ali who raced past Kingshuk Debanth and Eze Kingsely from the left before a cool- headed Rahul finished it beautifully getting past the Mohun Bagan defenders.
Mohun Bagan stepped up their attack in the secondhalf and the Arrows got a twin blow — first in the 65th minute when Amarjit Singh Kiyam was sent off and later in the 74th minute when Ashish Rai had to be stretchered off after receiving a head injury.
But despite playing with 10- man, the Arrows, who consist of mostly India’s under- 17 World Cup players, put up a solid show.
Dheeraj Singh also put up a fine save to deny Ansumana Kromah at the stroke of halftime to return with Man- of- theMatch award and hand Bagan hat- trick of draws.
For first time, an ILeague match was held at the Kolkata Maidan and the venue witnessed a near fullhouse at the 17,000- capacity stadium as crowd turned up in large numbers, even for a weekday match with a 2pm kickoff.