Kolkata: There's no stopping Mohun Bagan SG at home.
Jose Molina's team defeated Punjab FC 3-0 at the Salt Lake Stadium on Wednesday to become the first team to clinch a playoff spot in the Indian Super League's 2024-25 season.
A Jamie Maclaren double (56 and 90) on either side of Liston Colaco's goal (63) saw Mohun Bagan race to 46 points from 20 matches, opening up a 12-point lead over Jamshedpur FC (who have, however, two games in hand) and taking another giant step towards retaining the League Shield.
This was Mohun Bagan's 10th straight win at the Salt Lake Stadium this term, including their victory in ‘away' matches against East Bengal FC and Mohammedan SC at the same venue. Mohun Bagan hosted the ‘home' derby against East Bengal in Guwahati, which they won 1-0.
Punjab FC came into the game, hoping to reignite their playoff hopes. They managed to keep Bagan's famed attacking line under check in the first half. The hosts even lost Sahal Abdul Samad to a leg injury, raising a few more furrows on Molina's forehead.
However, the game swung from one end to another so dramatically and drastically soon after the break that Panos Dilmperis' visitors had no answer to deal with. With 23 points from 18 games, they stayed at ninth, 10 points from six-placed Mumbai City.
It all started with a couple of Punjab FC moves when Petros Giakoumakis, with a gaping goal in front of him, hit the post in the 55th minute and, immediately after, Bagan defender Dipendu Biswas came up with a stunning block to deny Ricky Shabong.
These two reprieves seemed to be the wake-up calls for Bagan who came out of their apparent slumber to turn the game on its head in the very next move.
Dipendu moved up down the right and whipped in a cross which saw Punjab defender Melroy Assisi miss the trajectory of the ball and Maclaren, controlling it with his first touch, beat goalkeeper Ravi Kumar with a perfect finish from the edge of the box.
That goal seemed to have completely taken the wind out of Punjab FC's sails. The way their defence allowed Colaco's attempted goalbound cross to settle into the far-end corner of the net — although Greg Stewart's move of selling a dummy over it flummoxed the 'keeper — only spoke of their disintegration.
Luka Majcen's arrival caused a few stirs in the Bagan box, but te Punjab defence suffered another brain-fade moment when Asish Pradhan saw his poor backpass meant for his goalkeeper being snatched by late substitute Jason Cummings who coolly laid it for Maclaren to do the rest.
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