Here are the games this week, with their reports below (latest match first):
5 Mar: East Bengal vs FC Goa (5 PM)
6 Mar: Odisha FC vs Mohun Bagan SG (5 PM) and Jamshedpur FC vs Inter Kashi (7.30 PM)
7 Mar: Mohammedan SC vs Bengaluru FC (5 PM) and Kerala Blasters vs Chennaiyin (7.30 PM)
8 Mar: Mumbai City vs SC Delhi (7.30 PM)
9 Mar: Punjab FC vs NorthEast United (7.30 PM)
Mohammedan SC 1 – 2 Bengaluru FC
(Roy Mahitosh 51′, Ryan Williams 22′, Ashique Kuruniyan 41′)
Bengaluru FC Are back to winning ways after goals from Ryan Williams and Ashique Kuruniyan secured victory over Mohemmedan SC in their ISL match at the Kishore Bharati Krirangan stadium in Kolkata.
More details to follow.
Jamshedpur FC 1 – 0 Inter Kashi
(Eze 57′)
A Stephen Eze tap-in from a lovely Madih Talal freekick saw 10-man Jamshedpur eke past Inter Kashi to keep pace with Bagan and make it four wins in four.
The game started with both teams struggling to make inroads but a 19th minute red card for Vincy Baretto, given for high boot after he went leaping with his foot high looking to control a crossfield ball, titled the game in Inter Kashi’s favour. Jamshedpur sat further back, absorbed the pressure and looked to punch on the counter. On one of those, they won a freekick out on the left wing that Talal swung in for Eze to tap-in at the far post.
They created more chances – including when Messi Bouli ran onto a delightful through ball from Talal and hit the post after holding off the chasing Kashi centre-backs — but it was Kashi who peppered the home goal. They had 16 shots to Jamshedpur’s 10 but stoic defending meant they were of little concern to Albino Gomes in goal.
In fact, Jamshedpur pulled up 1.60 xG to Inter Kashi’s 0.94 xG
Mohun Bagan 5 – 1 Odisha
(Maclaren 14′, 24, 45’+2′, 88′, Rodriguez 42′; Ali 43′)
Jamie Maclaren scored a first half hattrick and then added a fourth of his own in the 88th minute as Sergio Lobera delivered a thumping victory against his previous employers. Alberto Rodriguez had a speculative long ranger go in too, while Rahim Ali capitalised on a rare Bagan defensive lapse to score a consolation — both those actions came in the first half too.
The league leaders dominated proceedings from the off, and it wasn’t longer before a lovely Subhasish Bose cross was nodded in from inside the six-yard box by Maclaren. The forward got his second when he worked himself into space just on the edge of the six-yard box to meet a low Liston Colaco cross first-time. Centre-back Rodriguez made it three when, given the opportunity to shoot from range as Odisha backed off, he let fly from range and saw his shot whistle past Amrinder and into the bottom of the far corner.
From kickoff after that goal, Odisha caught Bagan napping when Ali ran onto a long ball in behind the defence, rounded Vishal Kaith and tapped in to make it 3-1. Almost immediately, though, Colaco (excellent on the day) ran at Odisha and teed up Maclaren for another header from inside the six-yard box.
The game was done and dusted there, but Bagan kept pushing for a fifth… which finally came after a sequence of events that started with a Kaith one-on-one save on Ali and Bagan raced forward to set Maclaren free one-on-one with Amrinder, and the Bagan forward made no mistake.
East Bengal 0 – 0 FC Goa
FC Goa held off a high-flying East Bengal in a clash between third and fourth in the league at the Salt Lake. Goa started the first half well, creating a couple of good chances that took strong interventions from Anwar Ali and Prabsukhan Gill to deny but as the game wore on, East Bengal took almost complete control. They peppered the Goa rearguard from range, taking 20 shots (16 from outside the box) to Goa’s 6 (1 from outside the box) but apart from a Rashid shot that spilled through Hrithik Tiwari’s fingers and clanged onto the crossbar, they failed to trouble the visitors much.
The result means Mohun Bagan and Jamshedpur have a chance to pull away from these two teams when they play tomorrow vs Odisha and Inter Kashi.
