Mahitosh stunner not enough as BFC make Durand Cup quarters

KOLKATA: A 10-man Mohammedan Sporting’s late fight, embellished with Mahitosh Roy’s stoppage-time stunner, was not enough as Bengaluru FC edged past them 3-2 at the Salt Lake Stadium on Tuesday to become the first team to qualify for quarterfinals of the ongoing Durand Cup.
The city side played the final 10 minutes of the contest without their goalkeeper Subhajit Bhattacharjee, who was shown a straight red-card by referee Venkatesh R for a foul on Pereyra Diaz outside his box.
Bengaluru FC ended their Group B campaign with a perfect record. Playing the tournament with their all-Indian reserve side, Mohammedan Sporting’s hopes for qualifying are as good as over having managed just 1 point from two matches.
A header from Aleksandar Jovanovic (7th minute) and Dipu Halder’s own goal in the 22nd minute gave Bengaluru FC a handy 2-0 lead in the first half.
The lead was further swelled when Vinith Venkatesh made it 3-0 with a beautiful left-footed curler on the hour mark.
Mohammedan Sporting under Hakim Ssengendo then added a twist to the tale in the 77th minute, with Israfil Dewan’s glancing header off Ashley Koli’s cross beating Lalthuammawia Ralte — who substituted Gurpreet Singh Sandhu under the BFC bar — all ends up.
Mohammedan Sporting soon lost their goalkeeper for the needless foul and defender Dipu Halder, who took his place under the bar, came up with a diving save of substitute Sunil Chhetri’s resultant freekick.
Despite the disadvantage, the local side refused to give up and Mahitosh made it 2-3 scoring an absolute stunner from 40 yards out.
But it was too little and too late for them BFC held on to their lead and made it 3 wins in as many matches.
In a Group E clash in Kokrajhar, Bodoland FC stunned Odisha FC 2-0.