Kolkata, September 4, 2019: Mohun Bagan picked up an encouraging goal-less draw against East Bengal in a match they dominated. Kibu Vicuna’s team will now look to get back to winning ways against an in form Bhawanipore Club.

Despite failing to score a goal in the season’s first Kolkata derby, Mohun Bagan fans were left satisfied with the performance dished out by Mariners on Saturday. Led by Joseba Beitia, Fran Glez and Sk Sahil in midfield, the Mariners dominated their arch rivals and were unfortunate to miss out on three points due to lack of clinical finishing. The draw against East Bengal however means that Mohun Bagan are still stuck in the lower half of the table and will soon need to start winning matches in order to defend the CFL title.

VP Suhair and Ashutosh Mehta are likely to sit out of the next match due to fitness concerns but in defense Kim Kima is back after serving out his suspension. In his pre match press conference Kibu Vicuna admitted to have a welcome headache about which foreigners he will be fielding against Bhawanipore. Beitia, Glez and Fran Morante were all excellent against East Bengal but Salva Chamorro on the other hand is Mohun Bagan’s top scorer this season.

Mohun Bagan’s opponent has a familiar face on the bench in Sankarlal Chakravarty. Chakravarty had a fruitful coaching career with Mohun Bagan, leading the Mariners to an I-league and Federation Cup as assistant coach and then winning CFL last season as head coach. Bhawanipore has done extremely well in CFL and are currently joint top of table with Peerless on 10 points from 5 matches. In pre match conference Chakravarty admitted that a match against Mohun Bagan will be extra motivation for many of his players for the future of their careers.

Bhawanipore started their campaign with a 6-2 thrashing of Rainbow FC and then picked up another victory over Kalighat MS. They drew with Customs in their third match but came back on victorious trail against Southern Samity. Their unbeaten run finally came to an end in the last match against Behala SS. Bhawanipore has a number of players with a wealth of experience in local football like Arnab Das Sharma, Kingshuk Debnath and Dodoz. Striker Kamo is in fine form and has already scored 8 times in CFL. Mohun Bagan fans will certainly be hoping for an interesting tactical battle between their current and ex coaches.

Mohun Bagan take on Bhawanipore Club in Kalyani Stadium on 5th September at 3 PM.