CFL 2018 Kolkata Derby: Mohun Bagan's Sankarlal Chakraborty rues defensive errors

Soham Mukherjee

CFL 2018 Kolkata Derby: Mohun Bagan's Sankarlal Chakraborty rues defensive errors image

Mohun Bagan head coach lamented the defensive errors made by his team in their 2-2 stalemate with East Bengal in the Kolkata derby on Sunday.

The Mariners were leading 2-0 at the break before East Bengal pulled off a comeback to share the spoils. Young Pintu Mahata and new signing Henry Kisekka got on the scoresheet for Bagan.

"We conceded both goals due to minor mistakes of our defence. The first goal gave them the confidence to come back in the match. Then Mehtab's (Singh) injury added a second blow to our gameplan. Slowly we made a comeback, but Dipanda missed two chances. It (the misses) is part and parcel of the game," head coach Sankarlal said.

Bagan defence was caught out during set-pieces more than once in the match. Sankarlal wants his team to be more alert in such situations.

"We have to be more alert during set-pieces. But Lalrindika delivered a fantastic ball into the box. Then after a melee, we conceded the second.

"We did not want to go attack directly. Dicka (Aser Dipanda) and Henry (Kisekka) were in a withdrawn position and whenever they received the ball they tried to initiate quick attacks."

Sankarlal also touched upon Johnny Acosta's debut. The Costa Rican defender scored East Bengal's first goal and delivered a promising performance but the Bagan coach believes his strikeforce did well against him.

"When Acosta is on the pitch his World Cupper status takes a back seat as the match is being played between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan. Henry and Dicka did reasonably well against him."

Sankarlal, who confirmed that Mehtab Singh has suffered a broken hand, added, "We will analyse our mistakes when we resume training. The league is still wide open. We have to win the three remaining matches and not only those matches but we have to score more goals as well."


 

Soham Mukherjee