123 Kolkata: As Mohun Bagan SG's Scottish playmaker Greg Stewart sent a deft cross towards the box, Bengaluru FC defender Rahul Bheke easily won the aerial challenge with Jamie Maclaren and managed to clear the danger. It looked like one of those many moments when Bagan's attacking ambitions came to flounder on BFC's well-defined defensive set-up at the Salt Lake Stadium on Monday.
Until Liston Colaco decided to give it a magical twist.
As the ball drifted away in air outside the box and was to bounce in the D, Colaco — standing there with his moment of truth — met it with a booming right-footer with so much power and precision that BFC goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu could only watch in helplessness the ball fly past his right side to settle into the back of the net.
The golazo of Colaco in the 74th minute was enough for Jose Molina's table-toppers to get over the finish the line with a 1-0 win, consolidating their position at the top with 40 points from 18 games.
On the other hand, the new year continued to be a disaster for Gerard Zaragoza's BFC, who remained winless in Jan, having lost 4 of their five matches in the month. With 28 points and with six more rounds to go, BFC are virtually out of the race for wresting back the Shield and might now focus on ensuring a place in the playoffs.
Yet, BFC — who stunned Bagan 3-0 in the first-leg fixture at home — again looked the better team, playing with purpose and threatening to end Bagan's unbeaten run at home.
Before the match, the Bagan fans unfurled a record-breaking 340-foot long tifo, highlighting the century-old club's historic link to India's freedom movement.
But the hosts, who dropped points in the previous two matches, were again poised to lose crucial ground as BFC started calling the shots.
Stewart under zonal marking struggled to find his rhythm, and the usual acceleration and precision of passes — with which the Scot usually eviscerates the opponents — was missing in his play. On the other hand, Nikhil Pujari was on a dogged sentry duty behind Colaco.
The link of Jamie Maclaren with the attacking trident of Colaco, Stewart and Manvir Singh thus nullified, BFC gradually grew in confidence. They not only enjoyed a whopping 68% possession in the first half, but the most noteworthy opportunity also fell their way. Sunil Chhetri's show of frustration by kicking the post said it all when the former India captain failed to find the target from inside the box in the added-on time of the half.
Mohun Bagan returned to the field with more urgency but BFC continued to keep the hosts at bay until Colaco came and changed the script altogether with his moment of brilliance.