Viva Kerala stun Mohun Bagan

KOLKATA, November 29: Mohun Bagan are in tatters. It showed again under the glare of Salt Lake Stadium’s floodlights as the green-and-maroon brigade crashed to their second successive defeat in the I-league. This time they lost 1-3 to Viva Kerala, the new kids on the block. Ghanaian Wisdom Abey scored a brace while Badmas Baba Thunde netted another for the visitors.Ishfaq Ahmed reduced the margin for the hosts. Thursday’s loss meant the green-and-maroon brigade are yet to open their account after two home matches.
PC Lalampuiya, replacing an injured Jose Ramirez Barreto, muffed three clear chances within the first 10 minutes and then Viva Kerala caught the Bagan defence napping on the counter. Douglas misread a lob, Wisdom Abbey accepted the gift and played it square to an onrushing Baba Thunde, who had the simple task of tapping it in. If one gift was not enough, Bagan also gifted Viva their second. From top of the box, goalkeeper Shilton Paul played it to Peter Odafe. Astonishingly, the Nigerian failed to control the ball and Wisdom latched onto it.
The 3-5-2 was changed to 4-4-2 but this helped Viva more. Bagan started showing more purpose once Ishfaq Ahmed came in place of Shanmugam Venkatesh. The efforts paid off in the 73rd minute as a low centre from Lalkamal Bhowmick saw Viva defence losing their concentration. Ishfaq pounced on it and his smart header went past MV Nelson in a flash.