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Tuesday, January 01, 2008

The Sunday derby was just 23 minutes old and the tone of the match was set. East Bengal midfielder Mehrajuddin Wadoo, like a raging bull, lunged into a tackle. Nothing wrong in that as an East Bengal-Mohun Bagan match always foments tension and high rush of adrenaline.

But it was his own colleague Saumik Dey who faced Wadoo's wrath! It is this sense of fear that has gripped Subrata Bhattacharya's men. The fear of losing, the fear of getting things wrong, the fear of a horrible end to a season that raised visions of triumph with the Fed Cup victory.

From then on, Mohun Bagan gained in confidence and Baichung Bhutia, the king of Salt Lake Stadium, nodded in the decider midway through the second session. The win helps the previously-beleaguered Bagan team climb to fifth spot in the I-League table, with 11 points from eight games. Their crosstown rivals, East Bengal however, trail at seventh spot with seven points from eight games. Dempo and JCT share the top spot with 18 points.

The change in his shirt colour has not messed up Bhutia's lovey-dovey relationship with the hallowed Salt Lake turf! However, it certainly has had an effect after East Bengal coach Bhattacharya started wearing the red-and-gold shirt. It was his third defeat of the season against Mohun Bagan and third on the trot in the city. In the I-League, it was his fifth defeat in eight games and third on the trot.

For a man, who loves to blurt out statistics at the drop of a hat, extolling his exploits as player and coach, these few points may be hard to digest. Even the best options under his disposal were not good enough on Sunday. Edmilson and a yet-to-be-fit Ashim Biswas made quite a few inroads into the Bagan box but the sucker punch eluded them.

Even though Bhattacharya cries each day for the dearth of a good header in the team, East Bengal's penchant for the long ball defied reason. Neither Edmilson nor Ashim are great ball winners in the air and Jayant Sen or Syed Rahim Nabi's floaters were easy pickings for NS Manju and Peter Odafe, marshalling the heart of Bagan defence.

It was Douglas da Silva who emerged the winner in the aerial battle of the midfield as well, and eventually won the man of the match award too.

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