Kalyani, 9 Feb 2020 : Mohun Bagan takes lead of nine points over Punjab FC, defeating the latter in an exciting 1-0 home match at the Kalyani Municipality Stadium today. Baba Diawara,who has now scored in four consecutive matches ,helped in securing the three vital points for Mariners.

Kibu Vicuna,who was declared ‘Coach of the month-January’ in I-League, was handed over the trophy by IFA secretary Joydeep Mukherjee. Mohun Bagan started with the same winning starting eleven of the last match, which won 3-2 against Chennai City FC. Komron and Ashutosh Mehta were instrumental right from the kick off. The duo, along with Joseba Beitia, was creating all sort of problems for the Punjab defence from the very first. In the first half itself, a free kick from Beitia and a header from Suhair were cleared by Punjab defence from goal line.

Mohun Bagan took the lead in the 42nd minute with a goal from Baba Diwara. Dhanachandra’s long throw in was not cleared by Punjab defense and Baba made no mistake to score from the excellent opportunity.

After the lemon break, just at the hour mark, Morante doubled the lead for Bagan from a Beitia free kick. However, after a discussion with the assistant referee, that goal was cancelled by the referee.

In the last quarter, Punjab started creating some pressure on Bagan defence but Morante and others foiled the attacks comfortably.

Coach Kibu praised the whole team’s performance at the post match conference and “I’m very happy with the performance of the whole team. Defensively we were very good”. On being asked about the championship situation, Kibu Vicuna said, “I don’t think the I-League is won yet. 26 points are not enough for us. We enjoyed ourselves today. I am very happy and proud of the team. What we have to do is to continue working the way we are working and try to be a better team. This is our goal, to get better with every single match. We must be better in the next game.”